Management education from episteme to phronesis: The contribution of French didactic theory

Abstract

In this article, we review some of the criticisms levelled at current management education provided by business schools and the recommendations made by critical management studies scholars. These authors generally recommend placing greater emphasis on phronesis, that is, the manager’s practical wisdom. We investigated this path and formulated a practical solution, rooted in the operational framework provided by French didactic theory. It takes the form of a specific pedagogical device, the aim of which is to foster closer connections between experience acquired in professional settings and theoretical knowledge derived from management sciences. We describe our theoretical framework and explain its potential contributions to management education, and then we present the implementing steps of our device. We illustrate these steps through the main elements of a process carried out by a group of students in a European business school. We present some of the observations we made over a 3-year period experimenting with this device. We conclude by outlining the axes that we consider essential in designing this type of device.