how to think like a manager Diagnosing problems in complex, messy situations. Prescribing solutions to organizational problems. Sustaining the rhetorical burden of casuistic argumentation and ethical reasoning.

Persuasion: policy, fact, and value

propositions of policy: stock issues (systematized common sense) Need for change/action [identification of deficiencies -- problem diagnosis] Need for change/action [identification of deficiencies -- problem diagnosis] Workability of policy alternative Workability of policy alternative Practicality of policy alternative Practicality of policy alternative Policy doesn’t entail greater evils Policy doesn’t entail greater evils Best available alternative Best available alternative

Workability The proposed policy [prescription] will at least in theory remedy the problem [diagnosis]. Proposal meets the identified need.

practicality The means needed to bring about the proposed change are available. ResourcesTimeCommitmentUnderstanding

Best policy alternative Compared with the alternatives, the recommended policy offers the best balance of advantages and disadvantages (benefits and costs)

Facts (propositions of fact are not facts -- they are belief claims for which factual evidence is needed) Causal claims Causal claims Predictive claims Predictive claims Historical claims Historical claims

Value claims Central to managerial reasoning Examples?

Dialogue ethics I 1. Practice inquiry before advocacy. Be open to a variety of points of view before you embrace any one of them. 2. Know your subject [do your homework] 3. Be honest about what you know and don’t know [don’t invent] 4. Try to tell the truth as you perceive it [don’t lie or distort]

Dialogue ethics II 5. Don’t oversimplify 6. Acknowledge possible weaknesses in your position. Be honest about your own ambivalence or uncertainty. 7. Avid irrelevant emotional appeals or diversionary tactics 8. Appeal to the best motives of your fellows, not their worst

Dialogue ethics I 9. Be prepared to lose if winning means doing psychological harm to others and demeaning yourself in the bargain

Reverse Engineering or Unpacking Diagnostic Arguments The AFMC Case

Problem diagnosis can be represented as follows. (1) Described Situation (S) ≈ A S (Perceptions, Theories) (2) Diagnosis (D) ≈ AD (Described situation, Theories, Values)

Babbitt’s diagnostic conclusion (1) D = A (·) (2) D = A (S, T), S is situation, T is theory (3) T = A (PPG, K G, MAN) (4) MAN = A (MAC, BPM) Where: PPG refers to public value, with cost being a factor. K G refers to organizational knowledge, combined with S, needed for an assessment of future operating environment. MAN refers to practice-oriented management disciplines MAC refers to managerial accounting and control BPM refers to business process management

managers engage in a half dozen different intellectual performance 1.Synthesizing management ideas – see formula (4). 2.Selecting and reformulating K G. 3.Synthesizing PPG and MAN – translating efficiency as a “good” into doctrinal arguments about how to pursue this good in big organizations. 4.Synthesizing MAN and K G — seeing some tendencies in governmental organizations to exert negative influence over the practicality of doctrines about how to achieve efficiency. 5.Perceiving S – an exercise in attending and equivocality reduction, aided by tacit consideration of T. 6.Diagnosing – mixing S and T to establish D.