Phenomenology and Business

Business, as an academic area of study, is usually thought of as a specialist sub-set of the social sciences. That is, the theories, assumptions and methods of the social sciences (with their emphasis on statistics, hypotheses and theories) are adapted and applied to the study of business. The conclusions of these studies are then promulgated to business leaders and managers as the answers to business management and administration problems.

However, the social science approach, while having brought many insights, often does not get to the heart of what managing a business is all about from the manager's perspective; and therefore these insights seem to many managers to miss the point, or to be too theoretical to be of much use.

Phenomenology arose at the end of the 19th century, was first formalised by Edmund Husserl, and was developed as a branch of philosophy with close ties to the emerging discipline of psychology. Psychology has largely gone on to become subsumed into the social sciences, but Freud initially took a fairly phenomenological approach, and phenomenological approaches to psychology are still used today (cognitive-behavioural therapy, for example, in broad terms uses a phenomenological approach).

The basic suggestion of Husserl was that we should pay more attention to the phenomena (hence phenomenology) in our consciousnesses rather than getting too quickly onto grand theories which often negate the conclusions we would reach if we studied phenomena more closely. Phenomena are what we are aware of when we contemplate our inner thoughts and thought processes. Husserl suggested that we study these phenomena closely, without worrying too much about what they stand for; to take them as capable of giving us insights about who and what we are and how we interact with others and the world around us.

Husserl's development of phenomenology was initially aimed at solving some classic philosophical problems such as whether and how we know anything (epistemology), but later philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Gilles Deleuze and Emmanuel Levinas sought, to a greater degree, to apply the phenomenological method to human life - trying to answer questions such as: 'what is it like to be a human being from the inside?', and 'what is relating to others all about, from our perspective and theirs?'. In other words, they tried to discern what life is all about from a subjective perspective, by delving below the surface on which we ordinarily live our lives to investigate what we are really doing and thinking.

Any lessons learnt from such an exercise would clearly have a role in helping us to live better lives: a better understanding of who and what we are helps us make better decisions about future actions, leading to more fulfilled and productive lives, with better relations with others.

Business is all about making decisions, productivity and relationships between people; and better insights, through the application of phenomenological methods, into what is really going on inside ourselves and others, and in the lives we construct at work, should, therefore, lead to us being able to create better-performing businesses. In other words, greater understanding gives a better basis for making the decisions which will improve performance.

Phenomenological Method

There are many phenomenological methods used, depending on the area in which the method is applied and the theoretical interests of the person who developed the method.

However, there are a few things which mark out all phenomenological methods as being phenomenological:

• Qualitative rather than quantitative;
• Paying close attention to experience and mental processes in oneself and/or in others, without taking account of the realities lying behind those experiences and mental processes;
• Suspending judgement, and putting aside theories and preconceptions, in order to allow experience and mental processes to be perceived without filtering them or obliterating them - in order to allow us to perceive the actuality of what is;
• Looking at what is unique and what is shared among others in experience;
• Examining our biases and preconceptions, to try to eliminate or minimise them so that unfiltered experience shines through;
• The point of view is always subjective rather than objective;
• Trying to directly enter into others' experience, while suspending our own point of view.

The other white papers in this series are all based on a phenomenological approach to some extent, particularly the paper Innovation and Repetition in Business Management. The starting point of that paper is that we all have to fill our time at work in one way or another, and describes some of the ways in which we do this. Once we understand these ways, and the reasons for them, we are in a position to control and influence these ways both for ourselves and others, leading to higher productivity and greater innovation.

Conclusion

Phenomenology is an adjunct to other ways of understanding business, and considers both different subject matter and the same subject matter from a different perspective. It has the advantage of not being over-burdened with theory or fixed ways of looking at things, and therefore fits well with the actual experience of business practice that most managers have.

Phenomenology also enables us to look more deeply at what we do and why we do it, compensating for the superficiality and fashion-chasing which characterises so much business thinking.

It is my contention that a phenomenological approach has much to offer businesses looking for better performance, whether that be greater innovation, more productivity, better decision-making or solving problems in businesses caused by interpersonal issues.

Metamarketing can help you use the methodology and insights of phenomenology to enable you to improve your business.

© Martin Ludlow 2009

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