David Rooney
Macquarie University, Marketing & Management, Faculty Member
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While wisdom is occasionally mentioned in management research and practice, it has not been explicitly integrated into its conceptual frameworks. Wisdom is regarded as a desirable attribute in people, but what is it, particularly in a... more
While wisdom is occasionally mentioned in management research and practice, it has not been explicitly integrated into its conceptual frameworks. Wisdom is regarded as a desirable attribute in people, but what is it, particularly in a management context? Why is it good? How can it be fostered? These questions need to be considered within the context of three contemporary ideological hegemonies. One is the neo-classical economic orthodoxy (frequently labelled neo-liberal) where market forces and utility value determine action. ...
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Abstract This chapter examines the possibility of creating online creative production archives with which to make locally and internationally sourced high quality video, audio, graphics, and other broadband content available to grassroots... more
Abstract This chapter examines the possibility of creating online creative production archives with which to make locally and internationally sourced high quality video, audio, graphics, and other broadband content available to grassroots producers in developing economies. In particular, the possibility of Cultural Knowledge Management Systems and the use of innovative Creative Commons copyright licenses are explored. It is argued that in a global knowledge economy, cultural production is a major driver of economic growth. The ...
ABSTRACT This paper considers why wisdom is important in knowledge-intensive service sector organisations. The paper argues that although wisdom necessarily has links to knowledge, knowledge does not necessarily have links to wisdom. The... more
ABSTRACT This paper considers why wisdom is important in knowledge-intensive service sector organisations. The paper argues that although wisdom necessarily has links to knowledge, knowledge does not necessarily have links to wisdom. The paper also argues that a distinguishing feature of knowledge economies is the extent to which abstract forms of knowledge, particularly theory, are used for commercial purposes in the service sector. The commercial application of abstract knowledge presents particular challenges for managerial and organisational wisdom. An analysis of Enron’s failure as an abstract knowledge and innovation intensive organisation that lacked wisdom is provided to illustrate this point. Finally, the paper considers particular organisational communication processes that facilitate wise organisational behaviour that will enable better use of abstract knowledge.
Page 1. CEIBS, Shanghai, 24 May 2012 Empirical Wisdom Research: Invitation & questions for a practice community David Rooney UQ Business School ...
ABSTRACT A social license to operate (SLO) is said to result from a complex and sometimes difficult set of negotiations between communities and organizations (NGOs, government, and industry). Each stakeholder group will hold different... more
ABSTRACT A social license to operate (SLO) is said to result from a complex and sometimes difficult set of negotiations between communities and organizations (NGOs, government, and industry). Each stakeholder group will hold different views about what is important, what is true, and who can or cannot be trusted. This article reviews the contributions made in this special issue on SLO. It also sketches the benefits of applying phronesis, or a practical wisdom-based theorization, of how SLOs can be co-produced.
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There is a great need for textbooks which cover social and organisational issues related to electronic mail (e-mail). Questions like what range ofactivities can e-mail best be used for, how it can be more effectively used, and what the... more
There is a great need for textbooks which cover social and organisational issues related to electronic mail (e-mail). Questions like what range ofactivities can e-mail best be used for, how it can be more effectively used, and what the effects of its use might be on an organisation need to be discussed and understood by students, technologists and managers alike. Jacob Palmc's Electronic Mail is one book which has sought to fill this gap. In pursuit of this task Palme has covered four main topic areas:(1) new communications ...
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The bottom line? Overall the book is not an attempt to communicate with the general reader either in style or in the questions it selects for discussion, nor does it make a convincing case that there is much communication or convergence... more
The bottom line? Overall the book is not an attempt to communicate with the general reader either in style or in the questions it selects for discussion, nor does it make a convincing case that there is much communication or convergence between the different contributors. If this book is representative of work in the field (if indeed it can be called a field), there is little consensus on the precise form or significance of the 'evolutionary economy'. That is not necessarily bad news-there is plenty of room for further contribution and probably a great need for analytical review ofwork in ...
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This edited book has clearly been produced to respond to a developing interest in the application of wisdom to business. It is divided into five sections, each of four chapters, dealing with logic, ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and... more
This edited book has clearly been produced to respond to a developing interest in the application of wisdom to business. It is divided into five sections, each of four chapters, dealing with logic, ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and metaphysics, followed by a synthesizing commentary of two chapters. While it is pleasing to see that the concept of wisdom is now sufficiently well established in organizational and managerial studies to warrant a substantial book of readings by a strong academic publisher, the quality of its ...
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This article argues that abstract knowledge in the form of formally developed theory plays an increasingly important role in the economy and in financial innovation in particular. Abstract knowledge is easily reified, and this is an... more
This article argues that abstract knowledge in the form of formally developed theory plays an increasingly important role in the economy and in financial innovation in particular. Abstract knowledge is easily reified, and this is an aspect of knowledge work that is insufficiently researched. In this article, we problematize reification of abstract knowledge in financial innovation from wisdom, ethics, and social network analysis perspectives. This article, therefore, considers the composition and structures of financial innovation networks that ...
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Abstract Identifies a loss of common-sense wisdom that has coincided with a collapsing economy, failing schools, and other setbacks, and offers recommendations to identify and cultivate wisdom by combining experience with empathy and... more
Abstract Identifies a loss of common-sense wisdom that has coincided with a collapsing economy, failing schools, and other setbacks, and offers recommendations to identify and cultivate wisdom by combining experience with empathy and intellect.
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The mission of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is to educate responsible leaders versed in 'China Depth, Global Breadth'. The CEIBS Euro-China Centre for Leadership and Responsibility (ECCLAR) supports... more
The mission of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is to educate responsible leaders versed in 'China Depth, Global Breadth'. The CEIBS Euro-China Centre for Leadership and Responsibility (ECCLAR) supports that mission by creating and disseminating knowledge on the practice and development of wise and responsible leadership especially in the corporate context. This collection of essays furthers that mission in providing a resource of wise praxis and reflection in the context of organisational ...
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Health services are constantly, incrementally evolving and adapting. However, transformative, systemic change of heath services is rare. This research explains how and why transformative change is rare. Drawing on complexity theory... more
Health services are constantly, incrementally evolving and adapting. However, transformative, systemic change of heath services is rare. This research explains how and why transformative change is rare. Drawing on complexity theory (specifically punctuated equilibrium and autopoiesis), and the sociology of power and the professions we argue for a new perspective in understanding change in health services by elaborating a theory of systemic inertia. Systemic inertia theory explains how the interconnectedness of ...
Executive Summary This submission argues that all knowledge-related policy needs to be evaluated from the perspective of knowledge research. Because science and innovation policies are knowledge-related policies, we argue that to design... more
Executive Summary This submission argues that all knowledge-related policy needs to be evaluated from the perspective of knowledge research. Because science and innovation policies are knowledge-related policies, we argue that to design such policy well and to adequately evaluate the return on investment by government in them, government needs to employ appropriate analytical frameworks that understand knowledge in economic, social and cultural terms. We point out that while highly developed evaluation instruments do not ...
The role of innovations and clusters has increasingly dominated local and regional development policies in recent decades. This authoritative and accessible Handbook considers important aspects of high-tech clusters, provides a number of... more
The role of innovations and clusters has increasingly dominated local and regional development policies in recent decades. This authoritative and accessible Handbook considers important aspects of high-tech clusters, provides a number of insightful cluster case studies, and several analyses of, and recommendations for cluster policies.
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In the first atricle in European Finance N° 2, Rooney shows that the service sector is increasing steadily in most of the developped economies but also in Hong Kong for example. And in this service sector the knowledge sector is growing... more
In the first atricle in European Finance N° 2, Rooney shows that the service sector is increasing steadily in most of the developped economies but also in Hong Kong for example. And in this service sector the knowledge sector is growing in the form of an “advisory economy”, among other, in the Banking and finance sector. What is asked for more and more is wisdom. Wisdom is the art of understanding ad communicating what is happening today, what is important and what has to be done now and later. And wisdom ...
Contemporary policy debates are increasingly focused on creativity, innovation, and knowledge. The European Union's Lisbon Strategy is one notable outcome of this focus. Assumptions driving such debates are that using knowledge for... more
Contemporary policy debates are increasingly focused on creativity, innovation, and knowledge. The European Union's Lisbon Strategy is one notable outcome of this focus. Assumptions driving such debates are that using knowledge for innovation is what energizes modern economies (Arora & Gambardella, 1994; Conceicao, Gibson, Heitor, & Shariq, 2000; Corno, Reinmoeller, & Nonaka, 2000; Reich, 1991; Rooney & Mandeville, 1998). Furthermore, creativity is also being seen as economically important because it ...
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This paper considers the problem of situating spirituality in the contemporary workplace that has little direct concern for contemplating the nature of the ultimate, immaterial reality, the greater good, or the inner life of... more
This paper considers the problem of situating spirituality in the contemporary workplace that has little direct concern for contemplating the nature of the ultimate, immaterial reality, the greater good, or the inner life of employees' souls. We argue that contemporary discourse has accommodated spirituality (in the workplace) primarily as either an opiate that dulls psychic pain or as an abstract formula that obfuscates our conditions of existence and actually reduces our capacity for transcendence or going beyond. Clearly this is meant to ...
McKenna, Bernard, Rooney, David, Liesch, Peter and Boal, Kim (2008). Snapshot: Knowledge in the absence of wisdom. In Barry, D. and Hansen, H. (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of New Approaches in Management and Organization (pp. 344-345) London,... more
McKenna, Bernard, Rooney, David, Liesch, Peter and Boal, Kim (2008). Snapshot: Knowledge in the absence of wisdom. In Barry, D. and Hansen, H. (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of New Approaches in Management and Organization (pp. 344-345) London, UK: Sage Publications. ... Note: This is a small article (Snapshot) included in chapter 1.1. There are 40 main chapters and one or two snapshots included in each chapter.
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The relationship between change in organisations and communication about change in organisations can be analysed as a particular case of a general debate in social theory about the extent to which reality is socially constructed. Social... more
The relationship between change in organisations and communication about change in organisations can be analysed as a particular case of a general debate in social theory about the extent to which reality is socially constructed. Social constructivists emphasise the role of language in the construction of social realities, enacted through controlling the message agenda; material determinists assert that economic and social structural factors are more constitutive of reality as seen in strategies emphasising structural and resource ...
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Activities directed at harnessing knowledge for economic and social development have grown since the original edition of the Handbook on the Knowledge Economy (Rooney et al., 2005) was published. Politicians, the world's news media... more
Activities directed at harnessing knowledge for economic and social development have grown since the original edition of the Handbook on the Knowledge Economy (Rooney et al., 2005) was published. Politicians, the world's news media and key people in the Blogosphere now use the terms knowledge economy and knowledge-based economy as part of their normal chatter. More governments are now investing greater amounts of money and time in creating policies to address their knowledge economy goals. The World Bank, ...
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Abstract This thesis is a socio-economic history of the relationship between music technology and organisational practices in twentieth-century Australia. It argues that the history of technology in the Australian music economy is... more
Abstract This thesis is a socio-economic history of the relationship between music technology and organisational practices in twentieth-century Australia. It argues that the history of technology in the Australian music economy is dependent not only upon the ...
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Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Philosophy, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Social Sciences, and 14 moreSociolinguistics, Knowledge Society, Critical Discourse Analysis, Social Epistemology, Language, Knowledge Economy, Knowledge, Theory of Knowledge, Process, Technique, Value, Instrumentalism, Technocracy, and Public Policy
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Research Interests: Business Ethics, Knowledge Management, Sociology of Knowledge, Wisdom, Transformational Leadership, and 10 moreGlobal Leadership, Knowledge Economy, Wellbeing, Stakeholder Theory, Authentic Leadership, Managerial Wisdom, Wisdom In Organizations, Indigenous Business, Maori Business, and Affordable Innovation
468 Book Reviews which show the increase in atypical work as necessarily a negative trend for employees have been focused on demand-side issues. That is, this kind ofchange is seen to be driven by the needs of employers and, in... more
468 Book Reviews which show the increase in atypical work as necessarily a negative trend for employees have been focused on demand-side issues. That is, this kind ofchange is seen to be driven by the needs of employers and, in particular, by large corporations. The authors' task is to convince us that this only tells part of the story because there is a supply-side dimension as well. The case is put that much organisational change in relation to employment contracts has been the result of experts demanding more flexible, more ...
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Information Liberation sets out to examine the relationship between information, information producers and information media. In particular, it focuses on the informational dimensions that establish and maintain empowered and disempowered... more
Information Liberation sets out to examine the relationship between information, information producers and information media. In particular, it focuses on the informational dimensions that establish and maintain empowered and disempowered social groups in their opposing positions. In exploring this dimension of information, Martin maintains that information is power. More to the point, and following in the footsteps of Lord Acton, Martin states that power (and thus, information) tends to corrupt. However, unlike Acton, he argues that ...
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Australia struggles to achieve economic competitiveness, prevent expansion of the trade deficit and develop value-added production despite applications of policy strategies from protectionism to trade liberalisation. This article argues... more
Australia struggles to achieve economic competitiveness, prevent expansion of the trade deficit and develop value-added production despite applications of policy strategies from protectionism to trade liberalisation. This article argues that these problems were emerging at the turn of the century, and that an investigation of music technology manufacturing in the first two decades of this century reveals fundamental problems in the conduct of relevant policy analysis. Analysis has focused on the trade or technology gap which is only ...
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While wisdom is occasionally mentioned in management research and practice, it has not been explicitly integrated into its conceptual frameworks. Wisdom in the popular imagination seems to be positively regarded, much like an ageing and... more
While wisdom is occasionally mentioned in management research and practice, it has not been explicitly integrated into its conceptual frameworks. Wisdom in the popular imagination seems to be positively regarded, much like an ageing and faithful family dog that has accompanied us on many walks but now mostly lies sometimes wistfully, sometimes lugubriously, in its favourite corner of the house until it is put out at night. The dog is well regarded, nostalgically remembered but not all that useful if the truth be known. The small, ...
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This article explores a sociological account of practical wisdom in public administrations. Very little research on contemporary applications of wisdom exists, and what research there is has a cognitive bias, largely ignoring sociology.... more
This article explores a sociological account of practical wisdom in public administrations. Very little research on contemporary applications of wisdom exists, and what research there is has a cognitive bias, largely ignoring sociology. For public organizations to create the conditions for wise practice within themselves and within individual administrators, an understanding of the social relational structures and processes that build and sustain practical wisdom is crucial. Furthermore, given that there is an aesthetic dimension to practical wisdom, an aesthetics-based approach to sociology of organizational wisdom provides a useful starting point in this sociological project. Aesthetics raises important issues of communicative action and discourse that address social relations and their structures and processes. Finally, a research agenda that explores these structural and processual issues in public administration is canvassed.
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Research Interests: Law, Knowledge Management, Innovation statistics, Sociology of Knowledge, Complexity Theory, and 10 moreKnowledge sharing, Knowledge Systems, Knowledge Economy, Radical Innovation, National Innovation system, Prometheus, Knowledge Policy, Public Administration and Policy, Knowledge based economy, and Public Policy
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Research Interests: Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Change Leadership, Spiritual Leadership, Wisdom, and 10 moreServant Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Corporate Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Leadership Development, Wisdom (Psychology), Business and Management, Organizational wisdom, Knowledge Based View, and Leadership Quarterly
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Discourse about knowledge‐based economies rarely moves beyond the commercialization of science and engineering, and is locked in the discursive limits of functionalism. We argue that these discourses limit the scope of what... more
Discourse about knowledge‐based economies rarely moves beyond the commercialization of science and engineering, and is locked in the discursive limits of functionalism. We argue that these discourses limit the scope of what knowledge‐based economies might achieve because they are uninformed by an adequate conception of knowledge. In particular, knowledge management and knowledge‐based economy discourse has not included the axiological dimension of knowledge that leads to wisdom. Taking an axiological perspective, we can discuss policy frameworks aimed at producing the social structures needed to bring fully formed and fully functioning knowledge societies into being. We argue that while the dominant discourse of industrial modernity remains rationalist, functionalist, utilitarian and technocratic, knowledge‐based economies will resemble a savant rather than a sage. A wisdom‐based renaissance of humanistic epistemology is needed to avoid increasing social dysfunction and a lack of wisdom in complex technological societies.
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As the global economy becomes more knowledge intensive and the wealth of nations more dependent on their knowledge assets being harnessed, it is essential for policy makers to have frameworks for the development and utilisation of... more
As the global economy becomes more knowledge intensive and the wealth of nations more dependent on their knowledge assets being harnessed, it is essential for policy makers to have frameworks for the development and utilisation of national knowledge assets. This article argues that a policy framework can be developed through which policy initiatives in a range of policy areas can be filtered in order to meet the challenges of the knowledge economy. We have developed an approach that has previously been applied to managing intellectual capital in firms and adapted it to the public policy arena. In doing so we question policy orthodoxies such as the assumption that free trade automatically facilitates international knowledge flows, that participation in a global knowledge economy necessarily challenges national sovereignty, and that online delivery of education is necessarily a progressive strategy.
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The WSIS is centrally interested in knowledge and has defined for itself a mission that is broadly humanitarian. Its development ‘talk’ is, rightly, replete with notions of equity, preserving culture, justice, human rights and so on. In... more
The WSIS is centrally interested in knowledge and has defined for itself a mission that is broadly humanitarian. Its development ‘talk’ is, rightly, replete with notions of equity, preserving culture, justice, human rights and so on. In incorporating such issues into knowledge society and economy discussions, WSIS has adopted a different posture towards knowledge than is seen in dominant discourses. This study analyses the dominant knowledge discourse using a large corpus of knowledge-related policy documents, discourse theory and an interrelational understanding of knowledge. I show that it is important to understand this dominant knowledge discourse because of its capacity to limit thought and action in relation to its central topic, knowledge. The results of this study demonstrate that the dominant knowledge discourse is technocratic, frequently insensitive to the humane mission at the core of the WSIS, and is based on a partial understanding of what knowledge is and how knowledge systems work. Moreover, I show that knowledge is inherently political, that the dominant knowledge discourse is politically oriented towards the concerns of business and technology, but that an emancipatory politics of knowledge is possible.