The theatre of war: art, organization and the aesthetics of strategy

Abstract

Recent Anglo-Saxon writings on management regard “vision” as being of strategic importance to leadership. Whilst such an approach has led to socio-psychological inquiries into “visionary leadership” the equally relevant phenomenological “philosophy of the eye” has remained unexplored by organizational scholars. This European philosophical tradition is closely connected to theories of art. In three cases, it will be shown how continental reflection on the strategic management of warfare has taken the eye seriously and thereby gained insights from aesthetics. It will be argued that the understanding of civilian strategic management also might benefit from such s connection between Strategy and Art.