Empowering Practical Wisdom: Spiritual Traditions and Their Role in the Global Business World of the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Referring to the hermeneutical concept of Paul Ricoeur, in what follows, we prepare the ground for the empowerment and inculturation of spiritual wisdom traditions into contemporary business culture and management practice. Addressing a lack of normative orientation and professional ethos in the global business world of the twenty-first century we will proceed by discussing the (mostly implicit) reasons for the systematic sidelining of cultural roots, spiritual beliefs, and intrinsic motivation by mainstream economic paradigms. Moreover, in disproving objections we sketch a Practical Wisdom-based approach that employs spiritual traditions as point of reference for values-based management practices. For that purpose we develop a methodological framework by adapting Paul Ricoeur’s concept of metaphorical language including concrete, application-oriented criteria. Finally, we will conclude by suggesting the scope of possible applications and the direction of further research.