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The purpose of this issue is to provide an overview of the special issue on practical wisdom for management from the Jewish traditions.

The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing in practical wisdom for management from the Jewish traditions.

The question on the relationship between the Jewish tradition and practical wisdom for management is answered in two different ways: first, providing a particular Jewish answer to managerial problems and second, presenting how Judaism can be a field of reflection learning for managerial praxis at both organizational and individual level.

The paper shows that the special issue offers insights into the value of practical wisdom of the Jewish traditions, from two particular points of view, as a guide for action and as an ethical approach to management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how culture influences organizational behavior by connecting elements stemming from individuals’ social habitus with other elements pertaining to the organization itself; rejecting a “new age” approach, the paper studies how references drawn from Judaism can feed an organizational reflection process that impacts management practice.

The paper centers on a case study about the Graduate Unit of an academic institution, which trains in the field of educational leadership.

Developing a common social habitus during the formative years makes it more likely that compatible projects can be implemented within various complementary organizations to achieve significant impact. In this case, the common knowledge of Jewish philosophy, the common “Jewish wisdom,” served as a catalyst. Creating a common organizational culture without such common elements would be impossible.

The research presented here in the non‐profit field suggests that belief in a possible creation and sharing of an organizational culture to further a company's objectives is largely illusory.

The paper studies organizations in the third sector to understand elements in the business sector.

The purpose of this editorial is to introduce the set of papers which comprise this issue of the journal, and to provide an interpretation of the current strategic debates about the future evolution of business school paradigms and, hence, identify possible strategic options.

The papers can be categorized into three broad themes: first, the impacts and environmental influences on management education including issues of globalization, global sustainability and advances in digital and social media. Second, challenges and criticisms of management education covering issues of legitimacy, business model sustainability and the need for change in business models. Third, the re‐invention of business schools and the creation of alternative models of management education and approaches for effective implementation and delivery of those models.

Globalization is an important environmental influence. Arnoud de Meyer, the President of SMU, offers his reflections. The paper by Peter Lacy and his colleagues at Accenture builds on the theme of globalization by examining the new era of global sustainability in the management arena. In discussing the second theme of challenges and criticisms, David Wilson and Howard Thomas examine the continued legitimacy of the business school with respect to both academic legitimacy in the university and business relevance and thought leadership legitimacy in the management community. Kai Peters and Howard Thomas address the issue of the sustainability of the current business school financial model and question whether it is too luxurious. Santiago Iñiguez and Salvador Carmona reinforce this urgent need to review the sustainability and viability of the existing business school models. Building on the importance of technology impacts, James Fleck illustrates how the Open University Business School (OUBS), the leader and pioneer in blended and distance learning in management education, has focused on further developing models of blended learning which will challenge the current weak adoption of such models in well‐known business schools. Rich Lyons, on the other hand, presents a thoughtful analysis of the careful implementation of a completely new MBA curriculum at the well‐regarded Haas Business School at Berkeley. Peter Lorange's “network‐based” model, on the other hand, is the most radical change model. Granit Almog‐Bareket's leadership paper offers one perspective on the importance of business school leadership in creating the conditions for innovative and insightful management of business school futures.

Clearly, debates and criticisms of business schools will continue to be addressed. It is a sign of a healthy academic and management community that such debates – particularly through the auspices of EMFD – can be presented in an open and constructive manner, as in this special issue of the Journal of Management Development.

The aim of this paper is to illuminate a crucial component missing in the education of MBA students. This component involves awareness translated into skills that would enable leaders to narrow the gap between vision and practice.

An analysis of MBA curricula shows that the ability to exploit intangible assets has not been explored sufficiently as well as why this ability is instrumental for leadership.

This study emphasises how crucially important it is for leaders to be able to consolidate a vision and lead change derived from that vision as reflected in their daily managerial practice, and argues that current MBA students need to develop additional unique skills that will enable them to diagnose problems related to the assimilation of change and to measure the effectiveness of this process.

This paper offers an original approach to the link between theory and practice and to the importance of developing a vision that challenges the way this topic is generally taught in MBA programs.

Recent decades have seen a change in the environment of business schools. These changes place great responsibility on deans as the leaders of schools to act. To date, there has been a dearth of literature dealing specifically with visionary responses on the part of the deans of business schools to those changes in the institutional environment. The purpose of this paper is to address the most recent institutional pressures in the business education field and present a framework linking it to the visionary leadership deans may demonstrate.

This paper is conceptual in nature and bases its analysis on institutional theory. The use of an institutional lens offers a new perspective on possible visions deans may lead and on the nature of their leadership.

The article proposes an institutional framework of visionary leadership in business schools and suggests that vigorous visionary leadership among deans is required in order to generate a unique school identity and reputation. The paper concludes by outlining steps leaders can take while shaping their vision in order to create a unique organizational identity.

The institutional framework has a central place in organizational and educational literature. So far, the literature has not dealt with the links between institutional theory and visionary leadership as a whole, or in business schools in particular. The present paper addresses this gap and offers new insights for researchers and practitioners alike.

The purpose of this paper is to study how representation is conceptualized in Jewish culture, and how this relates to management. More specifically, it seeks to discuss the banning of images and what can be learned from this in the field of management.

The paper explores the meaning of the prohibition of images in the sacred texts. This serves as a starting point to discuss representation of the world and different forms of thought in the management field.

A major element in the banning of images deals with the involvement of the manager in decision making. The authors argue that organisational images such as accounting numbers are oriented towards economising our attention and thereby allowing the relative absence of the decision maker. The authors suggest that the banning of images reminds us of the importance of the manager's presence and of active participation in decision making and organisational transformation.

The paper contributes to the literature on the roles of managerial representation, notably accounting figures, and supports the idea that accountability should not be limited to reporting (be it numbers or qualitative elements). This paper argues for developing the density of the account, for instance by using narratives. This research echoes recent practice turn in management, as the authors’ findings can inform management teaching by providing students with dense case‐studies of management as actually practised, analysed using sociological or psychological theories. Such dense case‐studies do not aim to give students parsimonious models for analysis, or expose them to best practices: rather they seek to help them develop practical wisdom through a better understanding of management. This paper calls then for an increased presence rather than representation in management teaching classes, which is the main limitation of e‐learning.

Rather than exploring the mechanism of accounting figures in the behaviour of organizational actors or taking a political perspective, this paper focuses on a deep representation of the organization often rooted in magical thought. Relying on the practical wisdom of the Hebraic biblical banning of images, this paper aims to deconstruct organizational thought so as to highlight its contradictions.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce three fundamental concepts of Jewish thought that act as the basis of society. The authors use these concepts to examine standard organisational behaviour in modern society and highlight basic shortcomings of modern organisational thought.

The methodology is a conceptual/theoretical one.

The paper reveals the shortcomings of modern organisation and its members of not accepting the three fundamental concepts that underpin Jewish thought and, in turn, the unwillingness of the organisation's members to resume responsibility.

This paper highlights three fundamental values from Jewish thought that are applicable to all, using a domain of knowledge that scholars usually use in research into management.

Corporate compliance practices are often “coercively” structured, coined by a legal discourse and derived from individualist normative concepts. Drawing on the “logic of the Decalogue”, the purpose of this paper is to design an “enabling” approach based on a covenantal logic present within the Decalogue.

The approach is interdisciplinary analysis summarizing exegetical, social science and business literature.

Within a covenantal and transcendental perspective, a morally literate community of employees, which have learned to reflect upon their responsibility, form the basis for compliance arrangements. They form a necessary complementary element of functional compliance systems.

The covenantal logic of the Decalogue can orientate the formulation of corporate compliance programs, which intend to follow an “enabling” approach. Normative claims should be rooted in an analysis of responsibilities towards relevant stakeholder groups. The potential of “spiritual capital” should be taken into consideration.

Reflecting one of the oldest ethical documents of human civilisation in the context of the contemporary management discussion on “coercive versus enabling control”, the orientating role of practical wisdom from the Jewish tradition becomes tangible.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations between charisma and bureaucracy, as presented in rabbinic commentaries on Exodus 18 and Max Weber's Economics and Society. It aims to show that approaches developed in these texts have important practical implications for contemporary managers and leadership development professionals.

The paper is an interpretive study. It uses textual analysis to compare and contrast the dynamics of leadership portrayed in each document.

Like Weber, the Torah treats charisma and bureaucracy as mutually antagonistic forces that co‐exist in dynamic interaction. However, where Weber's account is descriptive, the Torah's is prescriptive, advocating forms of leadership that deliberately combine bureaucracy and charisma.

The paper's goal is not to review contemporary literature on charismatic versus bureaucratic leadership. Instead, it seeks to investigate approaches to leadership implicit in two “classics” of very different kinds. As such, the approaches explored here are just two among many other possible approaches. The interpretative method developed here could be used in future studies to examine approaches to leadership implicit not only in Jewish and sociological texts but also in other genres and “wisdom” literatures.

The paper presents three practical implications for contemporary leadership development.

The paper presents a novel perspective on leadership – Mosaic leadership – that highlights the multifaceted and dynamic nature of leadership development. In addition, it shows that management wisdom from the Jewish tradition can be meaningfully compared with ideas developed in other traditions – including the tradition of contemporary management studies.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the Jewish religious concept “Tikkun Olam” is a source of practical management wisdom. “Tikkun Olam” combines with the diaspora and the state of Israel's specific political and economic contexts to provide Jewish people with an important driver and legitimization tool to change the world for the better. Since science and technology innovation has become a powerful tool to impact on today's world, “Tikkun Olam” builds on this profane channel for its present expression and supports the involvement of Jewish people in this matter.

To substantiate this view, the author analyzes the historical trajectories of the state of Israel and the Jewish diaspora. Some evidence is provided to highlight their specific dynamics and assets for knowledge creation, accumulation and transfer. Drawing on the academic literature, the author discusses what could be Jewish specificities on that matter compared with other nations and diasporas.

This work shows how a religious ethos can permeate profane life with great efficiency and act as practical management wisdom. While Weber and Sombart point to religious ethoses to explain the emergence of capitalism, the author highlights how “Tikkun Olam” provides Jewish people with an incentive to not accept the world as it is and to engage in its transformation. Sympathetic to a Schumpeter creative destruction attitude, Jewish people are able to leverage their context and their critical knowledge training in a science and technology innovation‐based entrepreneurial drive.

The paper establishes a link between a religious concept and science and technology innovation. Besides discussing existing works on diaspora‐specific contexts and their role in entrepreneurship and innovation, it explains how and why a set of specific values helps a diaspora leverage science and technology potential. In an era of globalized knowledge and increasing population mobility, it reminds policy makers, religious authorities and designers of management curricula that contexts and values are both sides of a transformative coin that links potential to reality. It may help them put educational emphasis on the responsibility to consider the world not only as it is, but also as it should be.