Erasmus Management Lectures 2012
Erasmus Management Lectures are open to doctoral students and faculty members. The participation fee for ERIM/CEMS members is 75 EUR and for the external participants it's 150 EUR. The fee includes lunches and drinks. Please note that the number of participants is limited so we advise you to register as soon as possible. To register please click on the registration banner .
Professor Thomas Donaldson: CAN MANAGEMENT THEORY FIND A PURPOSE?
“How do we get to the question of "purpose" from the standpoint of science and rational inquiry? How do we understand the purpose of the firm and the purpose of business education? We can infer bare-boned conceptions of purpose from economic theory and sociology. But anything more seems to elude us. Our failure, I will argue, stems from our reluctance to use more sophisticated epistemic and ethical tools.”
Lectures:
- The Epistemic Fault Line in Corporate Governance
- The Transformation of Management Theory 1960-2012:
Empiricism, Economics, and Ethical Theory
- Redefining the Corporation: The Firm as a Bundled or Integrated Identity
- Theory Meets Reality: Two Current Issues of Purpose
(1. Is Management a “Profession?”; and, 2. Did Bad Ethics Contribute To The Financial Crisis?)
Day 1, 04 June 2012
Location: De Riviumzaal (H17-02)
| 09:30-12:00 |
Introduction by Prof. Dr. Hans van Oosterhout
Lecture 1:
The Epistemic Fault Line in Corporate Governance
What is the purpose of the firm? Contemporary governance theory is oddly frustrated by this question. The dominant strategy is to conceive the firm as an economic entity, as a mere means of minimizing transaction costs or of fulfilling obligations of agents to principals. But the strategy can be shown to be ultimately threadbare. It collides head-on with the “Impossibility Theorem” for corporate governance.
Readings:
- Donaldson, T. 2012. The Epistemic Fault Line in Corporate Governance.
Academy of Management Review
, 37(2 ).
- Schreck, P., VanAaken, D., & Donaldson, T. 2012.
Positive Economics and the Normativistic Fallacy: Bridging the two sides of CSR
, Draft 2/3/2012.
|
| 12:00-13:30 |
Lunch break at Faculty Club |
| 13:30-16:00 |
Lecture 2:
The Transformation of Management Theory 1960-2012: Empiricism, Economics, and Ethical Theory
As we survey the field of management over the past 50 years, we can discern a steady movement away from the intuitive insights of Kenneth Andrews and others in the first portion of that period, only to find a movement back to many of their critical notions in the latter portion. Second, while we in the field of management study are decidedly better off because we can now ground much of the earlier intuitive wisdom through empirical research, one of Andrew’s critical foci has so far eluded us: namely the idea of purpose.
Readings:
- Donaldson, T. “Can Management Theory Find a Purpose,” Presentation made at the Academy of Management Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, August, 2011.
- Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. 1995. The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications.
Academy of Management Review
, 20(1): 65-91.
|
| 16:00-16:30 |
Drinks at Faculty Club
|
Day 2, 05 June 2012
Location: De Riviumzaal (H17-02)
| 10:00-12:00 |
Lecture 3:
Redefining the Corporation: The Firm as a Bundled or Integrated Identity
Normative stakeholder theory, at least in a minimal form, is ineliminable when interpreting the modern corporation. For this reason we must use normative ideas when understanding the purpose of the firm. But what theoretical strategies are available for using normative ideas? Two options are most salient: “bundled identity,” and “integrated identity.”
Readings:
- Donaldson, T. The Inescapability of a Minimal Version of Normative Stakeholder Theory.
Stakeholder Theory: Impact and Prospects
. Ed. Robert Phillips, Edward Elgar Publishers: 30-39. Forthcoming.
- Donaldson, T. 2012. The Epistemic Fault Line in Corporate Governance.
Academy of Management Review
, 37(2 ). Read pages 25-42
|
| 12:00-13:30 |
Lunch break at Faculty Club |
| 13:30-15:30 |
Lecture 4:
Theory Meets Reality: Two Current Issues of Purpose (1. Is Management a “Profession?”; and, 2. Did Bad Ethics Contribute To The Financial Crisis?)
How can we analyze current issues from the standpoint of our evolving understanding of the purpose of the firm? Two issues are especially apt for analysis: 1. Does management qualify as a true profession with some of the social responsibilities typically accorded to professions?; and 2. What, if anything, did ethics have to do with the genesis of the financial crisis of 2008-2011?
Readings:
- Donaldson, T. 2012. Three Ethical Roots of the Economic Crisis.
Journal of Business Ethics
, forthcoming.
- Khurana, R., & Nohria, N. 2008. It's Time to Make Management a True Profession.
Harvard Business Review
, 86(10): 70-77.
|
| 16:00 |
Receiving Certificates |
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