Aims

A course in epistemology of research applied to the management of organisations should allow the students to be in possession of a critical theory of knowledge, when being applied to the management of organisations.

This objective is both theoretical and practical : on the theoretical side, it should allow them to understand how and why a "management science" has progressively being founded, and what are the values and limits of such a foundation ; on the practical side, it aims at giving the students the reflexive and scientific background that is required to build up a Ph. D. thesis in the field of management.

Main themes

In this context, this course includes the following steps :

" to give an introduction to main concepts and trends in the domain of human sciences epistemology ;

- empirism vs. idealism ;
- the notion of "critics" (Kant, Popper, Marx, Nietzsche) ;
- positivism and neo-positivism ;
- structuralism and systemic ;
- phenomenology and hermeneutics ;
- constructivism and management science.

" to analyse different research programmes, concerning their ability to deal with collective or managerial action, in economy or sociology ;

" to extract from this process a critical analysis of rationality, as well as a definition of a scientific topic in the different areas covered by management science.

Content and teaching methods

This course will be an opportunity to set up a dialogue between the students and the teacher concerning the above domain. In such a perspective, it will combine theoretical courses by the teacher, designed as frameworks for the reflection, with presentations of scientific articles by the students, designed as opportunities to launch collective discussion.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisite : none

Evaluation : oral presentations (by group), individual written contribution (approx. 12 pages, to be joined to the final graduation report)

Support : portfolio of readings (syllabus)

References : cf. support

Pedagogic team : one teacher