Abstract
It is beyond question that advanced engineering applications would be impossible without the insights of natural science theories. In the field of management, however, the profession is still debating the relevance of theory for management research and practice. To introduce this handbook section, this chapter builds on a paradigmatic case of theory development in astronomy that requires no previous knowledge, in the hope of convincing theory skeptics of what management scholarship is missing when banking on a theory-less discipline of management. The key lies in the capacity of theoretical concepts with high discriminating power to unravel hidden structures, without which interventions with surgical precision are not possible. Only theory-based practice has proved to be able to cope with the management needs of today’s complex organizations, and business schools will be no more than vocational schools unless we can turn the rising tide of theory-less management research. The chapter closes with a summary of the contributions that make up this handbook’s section on philosophy of science.
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Notes
- 1.
For an explanation of retroduction, refer to Agafonow and Perez, Chap. 14, “Discoveries in the Science of Organizational Economics,” also published in this handbook.
- 2.
For the repercussions of research performance evaluation systems based on A-hits and citation counts, refer to Agafonow and Perez, Chap. 15, “No Organizations for Today’s Einsteins,” also published in this handbook.
- 3.
Ibid.
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Agafonow, A. (2022). Philosophy of Science for Management Theory, Practice, and Sci-fi Freaks: An Introduction. In: Neesham, C., Reihlen, M., Schoeneborn, D. (eds) Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Handbooks in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76606-1_65
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