The Philosophical Rhombus of Management (PRM): A Conceptual Framework for Professional Updating in Administrative Sciences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26439/ddee2026.n009.8927Keywords:
philosophy of management, professional updating, organizational epistemology, praxeology, managerial ontologyAbstract
Updating management training programs involves an epistemological problem due to a disconnection between the philosophical foundations of managerial knowledge and the current practices of adult training programs. This paper introduces the Philosophical Rhombus of Management (PRM), a conceptual model that presents four dimensions of the philosophy of management: ontology, epistemology, axiology, and praxeology. The main goal was to identify and integrate the research on the philosophy of management and the implications this philosophy holds for the continuing professional development of managers. A scoping study was conducted based on the original framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley, and the PRISMA-ScR extension. For this study, a systematic search was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, and Dialnet, and covered the years of 1990 to 2024. From 847 records, 32 studies were selected. The synthesis was organized in the dimensions of the model and identified four main theoretical approaches: the ontological turn in organizational theory; epistemologies of tacit and explicit knowledge; axiological approaches to leadership ethics; and praxeological theories of situated learning. The RFG incorporates all of the aforementioned approaches and uses them as design criteria. The model provides a starting point for moving beyond technical reductionism for updating programs and will require empirical validation.
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