If MacIntyre ran a business school… how practical wisdom can be developed in management education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how a MacIntyre-inspired business school could contribute to developing practical wisdom in students through its curriculum, meth-ods, faculty, student selection criteria, and governance. Despite MacIntyre's critiques, management can be presented, in MacIntyrean terms, as a second-order, domain- relative practice, with practical wisdom as corresponding virtue. Management educa-tion consists in developing practical wisdom. How? Primarily by initiating students and enabling them to participate in communal traditions of inquiry focused on, al-though not limited to, the purposes and ends of business. The transmission of ob-jective knowledge, analytical skills, and techniques is subordinated to the end goal. We consider traditions centered on shareholder value maximization, the balancing of stakeholder interests, and the fulfillment of the common good of firms. Each gives rise to a particular kind of business school. A MacIntyrean business school is one that seeks the common good of firms.