Sherlock Holmes and the adventure of the rational manager: organizational reason and its discontents

Jerzy Kociatkiewicz (1) , Monika Kostera (2, 3)

1 Essex Business School
2 Faculty of Management [Warsaw]
3 Linnaeus University

Rationality has since long been one of the central been issues in the discourse of management. Among the classics voices propagating a reductionist rationalism dominated and there are still many contexts where such a view is taken for granted. On the other hand, critics since the times of classics have been arguing for a less linear approach to management and management thinking. However, little attention has been paid to some of the di erent dimensions of management rationality, such as imagination. is paper sets out to address this gap in knowledge through presenting a narrative study focused on a literary character well known for his rationality, Sherlock Holmes, and revealing that this, to many, very epitome of rationality is actually an example of an extended type of rationality, including imagination. Following the ctional protagonist of our study, we consider some aspects of its relevance for management thought and practice.

Mots clés: Rationality; Imagination; Detective stories; Narratives

Domaines: Gestion et management; Sociologie

Jerzy Kociatkiewicz, Monika Kostera. Sherlock Holmes and the adventure of the rational manager: organizational reason and its discontents. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 2012, 28 (2), pp.162-172. ⟨10.1016/j.scaman.2012.01.003⟩. ⟨hal-02423778⟩