Plato, Aristotle and Management Consultancy Knowledge

Abstract

AbstractPlato determined that the poets, that is, all creative writers, should be banned from his ideal state, because they commanded unjustified reputations as sources of knowledge when, in fact, they possessed no real knowledge. Moreover, the rhetoric they used to stir their audiences’ emotions and make their fictions seem real made them dangerous. Plato also objected to the sophists, who travelled the Greek world offering teaching in various subjects in return for fees, on the grounds that they too lacked any real knowledge. Management consultants attract similar criticisms, for using rhetoric to support doubtful knowledge claims, and for charging large fees for services of questionable value. Plato set a standard for definite, lawlike knowledge, which management science cannot meet. Management consultants’ claims to possess rational, scientific methods that can be relied upon predictably to solve clients’ problems are spurious. Management consultants derive the most valuable kind of knowledge for their practice from their experience of carrying out projects for clients. Management science can make useful contributions to management consultancy practice. It is, however, the Aristotelian intellectual virtue of phronesis that enables management consultants to offer their clients advice based on experience-based intuition and good judgement, and makes their services valuable.