­­Rationale

In 1984, R. Edward Freeman published "Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach". While the term ‘stakeholder’ was then hardly used, it became one of the central concepts in the business ethics revival since the 1990s and quickly gained currency in mainstream management discourse. Today it is practically a household term used by many different types of actors in a very diverse set of fields. Although many reasons might be attributed to its popularity, Freeman’s definition from 1984 is by far the most often referred to.

In 2007, Freeman, Harrison and Wicks published "Managing for Stakeholders" as a practitioner’s version of the revised 1984 book and in 2009 they will publish the academic revision of Strategic Management. To celebrate this 25th anniversary of Freeman’s classic work, Philosophy of Management invites scholars and practitioners to reflect upon avenues and perspectives on management that this work has opened and/or closed.

Scope

The special issue aims to assemble papers that offer philosophical scrutiny of stakeholder thinking and that relate this to Freeman’s conception. The integration of empirical findings into the papers is particularly encouraged as is the need to emphasize the philosophical and sense-making boundaries of the stakeholder concept.

Ideally the special issue will contain reflections on the praxis of stakeholder thinking from various kinds of organizations.

R. Edward Freeman will contribute to the special issue with a ‘reply to his critics’. Papers are called for offering fresh philosophical treatment with reference to Freeman’s stakeholder concept of areas such as the following:

• Problematic ontological or epistemological assumptions in stakeholder thinking
• Freeman’s stakeholder revolution and its current contra-revolution
• Feminist perspectives in/on stakeholder thinking
• How stakeholder analysis can still leave you stakeholder-blind
• How the reception of stakeholder thinking in development studies or development ethics enriches stakeholder thinking in management
• The production of stakeholders
• Innovative stakeholder concepts and their added value
• Problematic aspects for representational stakeholders
• Comparing different categorization-models of stakeholders
• Continental philosophy and stakeholder thinking

Contributions

Contributors are asked to send paper proposals with abstracts. In case the proposal is provisionally accepted, the contributor will be asked to submit a full paper draft for peer-review.
Proposed contributions will be welcome in the form of papers between 3,000-7,000 words.

Timetable

Proposals with abstracts    Due by Friday 24 October 2008

Provisional acceptances    Notified by Friday 21 November 2008

Drafts for refereeing        Due by Friday 20 February 2009

Referee reports         Friday 24 April 2009

Final drafts            Due by Friday 26 June 2009

Publication            September 2009

Please send proposals, papers and abstracts and any enquiries to Dr. Wim Vandekerckhove at wim.vandekerckhove@gmail.com.
Submissions should be sent by email attachment (Word or RTF format). Please provide a separate brief resume of the author(s) and full address for correspondence including phone, fax and email.

Full author guidelines for paper layout and referencing can be found at: http://www.managementphilosophers.com/Getting%20Published.htm

Philosophy of Management

Now in its seventh year, Philosophy of Management is the established forum for philosophically informed thinking about management in theory and practice. It seeks to define and develop the field of philosophy of management. The Journal is read by thinkers, scholars, teachers, consultants and practitioners in 20 countries. It is for philosophers working in all traditions, for management thinkers concerned with the philosophical foundations and validity of their subject and practising managers seeking to engage with the philosophical issues raised by what they believe and do.

Guest Editor: Dr. Wim Vandekerckhove

Wim Vandekerckhove is assistant professor of practical ethics at Ghent University, Center for Ethics & Value Inquiry. His research concerns moral argumentation of whistle blowing protection, the organization of counter-trafficking policies, sense-making in socially responsible investment practices, and cosmopolitanism in business. Among his recent publications are Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility (published with Ashgate), “A Puzzle in SRI: the Investor and the Judge” and “A Speech-Act Model for Talking to Management” (both forthcoming in Journal of Business Ethics).

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