Phronetic Management Studies Playbook

Phronetic Management Studies Playbook is about reclaiming practical wisdom in organisations, leadership, and management education.

In a world shaped by artificial intelligence, ecological uncertainty, institutional mistrust, inequality, and relentless pressure for efficiency, technical knowledge alone is no longer enough. Organisations do not merely need smarter systems; they need wiser judgment.

Drawing on Aristotle’s concept of phronēsis — practical wisdom — and enriched by the African ethic of Ubuntu, this book proposes Phronetic Management Studies as a constructive framework for responsible organisational life. It moves beyond critique alone and offers leaders, educators, scholars, and practitioners a way to deliberate more wisely about purpose, power, ethics, human dignity, and the common good.

The Playbook introduces five guiding principles, a set of phronetic questions, practical tools, and domains of application including artificial intelligence, sustainability, leadership under uncertainty, and management education. It reframes management not simply as a technical function of control, performance, and optimisation, but as a moral practice concerned with human flourishing.

This book is for readers who believe that the future of management requires more than competence. It requires discernment, courage, humility, and wisdom-in-action.