A key idea of pragmatism is the inseparability of theory and practice, thought and action. Pragmatism is said to have had few contacts with the organizational world, and few direct practical applications, except in the domain of education. In particular, the pragmatist direct influence on the managerial world is often undervalued. However, pragmatist ideas have had a significant impact on managerial doctrines and can be traced in today’s debates amongst organization practitioners. This chapter studies three of those channels: Follett’s direct or indirect (for example through Chester Barnard’s work) influence on the corporate world as well as the management of public institutions; the stream of action research and reflection-in-action, in particular Donald Schön’s work; and the development of the quality movement as an anti-Taylorian revolution, deeply influenced by pragmatist thinkers (exploratory inquiry, community of inquiry, instrumental mediations, process perspective), more recently distorted into a Taylorian revival under the “lean management” label.
