ABSTRACT
Among practical, hands-on executives, the word ‘theory’ often has quite negative connotations. It’s used as a pejorative and as a synonym for impractical, useless and unsubstantiated. This is unfortunate, ironic, inconsistent and, not to put too fi ne a point on it, hypocritical. Unfortunate because more accurate synonyms for ‘theory’ include explanation, rationalisation or elucidation. Ironic because explanation, rationalisation and elucidation are exactly what practical managers strive for. Such negativity is inconsistent because executives only demonstrate it towards theories in social sciences, such as management science, and not to theories in the physical and natural sciences, irrespective of their evidence base. Finally, it is hypocritical because executives, even those who are most sceptical of management theory, use management theory all the time, whether consciously or otherwise. When an R&D Director focuses resources onto a particular avenue of research, the decision is underpinned by an implicit theory about what area of research is most likely to lead to the desired product innovation. The same applies when a Commercial Director instigates a marketing campaign or an Operations Director makes choices about outsourcing. Their decisions are underpinned by an implicit explanation, rationalisation or elucidation of how the world works. John Maynard Keynes’s observation in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was accurate. He stated, ‘Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual infl uences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.’
