Dominant Management Logics of Siyasetnamas – A Moral Management Perspective

Abstract

This article examines the management perspectives in Islamic political history, which can contribute to the contemporary management and organizational knowledge (MOK). It attempts to find out the taken-for-granted assumptions and arguments that shape the Muslim scholars’ management perspective in history. To this end, political treatises in Islamic history (namely, 'siyasetnamas') and their managerial arguments are scrutinized through content analysis. By determining underlying dominant logics -assumptions that most siyasetnamas refer to- this article allows us a mental exercise to step out of the Western mindset, which is thought to be the best, and the only way to understand MOK and tries to introduce a moral management perspective from the history of Islam. Our results indicate that siyasetnamas’ dominant management logics could provide valuable implications to MOK with their emphasis on (i) considering society as the real owner of entities, (ii) having additional societal responsibilities, and (iii) moral competency of organizational actors.