Subtopic Deep Dive

MacIntyre on Virtue and Organization
Research Guide

What is MacIntyre on Virtue and Organization?

MacIntyre on Virtue and Organization applies Alasdair MacIntyre's virtue ethics framework to analyze how practices in educational and organizational institutions sustain or erode virtues amid managerialism.

Scholars use MacIntyre's distinction between practices and institutions to critique neoliberal reforms in universities and schools. Key works address scope problems in applying practices to business and education ethics (Sinnicks, 2017, 36 citations). Research proposes virtue-centered alternatives to commodification in professional communities.

Curated Papers

Key Challenges

Why It Matters

This subtopic guides reforms in educational institutions facing managerialism and neoliberal pressures. Sinnicks (2017) shows how MacIntyre's practice concept applies to moral education at work, informing ethical training in schools. Hanley (2015) links neoliberalism to emotional experiences in education, advocating virtue ethics for sustainable cultures. Grosch (2009) reflects on university nature through MacIntyre, supporting virtue-based professional communities against commodification.

Key Research Challenges

Scope Problems in Practices

MacIntyre's practice concept faces scope issues when applied to business and education, threatening its utility in ethics (Sinnicks, 2017). Critics argue it inadequately addresses institutional constraints on virtues. Resolutions require clarifying practice boundaries in organizational contexts.

Neoliberal Erosion of Virtues

Neoliberal reforms commodify education, undermining emotional and moral experiences aligned with virtues (Hanley, 2015). Managerialism tensions with experiential teaching hinder virtue cultivation (Christensen, 2010). Virtue ethics offers counters but needs institutional adaptation.

Institutions vs Practices Tension

MacIntyre's distinction highlights how institutions constrain practices in universities and research (Kavanagh, 2012). This limits virtue development in scholarly communities (Grosch, 2009). Grounding requires alternatives beyond MacIntyre for organizational ethics.

Essential Papers

Moral Education at Work: On the Scope of MacIntyre’s Concept of a Practice

Matthew Sinnicks · 2017 · Journal of Business Ethics · 36 citations

This paper seeks to show how MacIntyre’s concept of a practice can survive a series of ‘scope problems’ which threaten to render the concept inapplicable to business ethics. I begin by outlining Ma...

Neoliberalism, emotional experience in education and Adam Smith: reading<i>The theory of moral sentiments</i>alongside<i>The wealth of nations</i>

Christopher Hanley · 2015 · Journal of Educational Administration & History · 4 citations

This paper examines some critical accounts of emotional life shaped by neoliberalism. A range of literature concerned with neoliberalism and emotional experience in educational contexts is reviewed...

Kvalitetssikring, eksplicitisme og undervisererfaring

Anne‐Marie Søndergaard Christensen · 2010 · Dansk Universitetspædagogisk Tidsskrift · 0 citations

Der er i disse år et stigende ønske om at kvalitetssikre universitetsundervisning. På trods af mange gode intentioner kan denne udvikling give problemer på to fronter. For det første erder en poten...

In Pursuit of “The Good”: some provisional reflections on the origins and nature of a university

Paul Grosch · 2009 · Plymouth Marjon University Repository (Plymouth Marjon University) · 0 citations

I wish to do five things in this paper. First, I want to say something about the debate concerning the nature of a\nuniversity, as prompted by Newman’s well-known analysis; second, I hope to s...

Beyond MacIntyre: grounding the business as practice debate

Donncha Kavanagh · 2012 · Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork) · 0 citations

Alasdair MacIntyre’s distinction between institutions and practices helps illuminate how powerful institutional forces frame and constrain the practice of organizational research as well as the out...

A pedagogy of hope: the potential contributions of Alasdair MacIntyre’s Revolutionary Aristotelianism to critical social work education

John G. Fox · 2025 · Critical and Radical Social Work · 0 citations

This article considers how Alasdair MacIntyre’s Revolutionary Aristotelianism, given its foundations in Aristotle’s virtue ethics and Marxism, can strengthen critical social work (CSW) education, p...

(Don’t) Just be Nice:

Kirsten Welch · 2020 · 0 citations

Just be nice to each other!"Ms. Simmons's tone is slightly exasperated as she serves as the mediator between Steven and David, who are yet again squabbling over who gets to play with the newest-and...

Reading Guide

Foundational Papers

Start with Sinnicks (2017) for practice scope resolution; Grosch (2009) for university virtue reflections; Kavanagh (2012) to ground institution-practice debates.

Recent Advances

Study Hanley (2015) on neoliberal emotions; Welch (2020) on classroom virtues; Fox (2025) for Revolutionary Aristotelianism in social work.

Core Methods

Philosophical critique of managerialism using MacIntyre's practice framework; analysis of emotional impacts (Hanley, 2015); experiential teaching tensions (Christensen, 2010).

How PapersFlow Helps You Research MacIntyre on Virtue and Organization

Discover & Search

Research Agent uses searchPapers and citationGraph on 'MacIntyre virtue ethics education' to map 36-citation Sinnicks (2017) connections, revealing clusters on practice scope. exaSearch uncovers niche works like Christensen (2010) on quality assurance tensions. findSimilarPapers expands from Hanley (2015) to neoliberal critiques.

Analyze & Verify

Analysis Agent employs readPaperContent on Sinnicks (2017) to extract practice definitions, then verifyResponse with CoVe checks claims against abstracts. runPythonAnalysis with pandas tallies citation themes across Grosch (2009) and Kavanagh (2012). GRADE grading scores evidence strength for virtue-institution tensions.

Synthesize & Write

Synthesis Agent detects gaps in neoliberal virtue erosion post-Hanley (2015), flagging underexplored social work applications. Writing Agent uses latexEditText and latexSyncCitations to draft reforms section citing Sinnicks (2017), with latexCompile for full manuscript. exportMermaid visualizes practice-institution flows.

Use Cases

"Analyze citation networks of MacIntyre's practice concept in education papers."

Research Agent → citationGraph on Sinnicks (2017) → Analysis Agent → runPythonAnalysis (networkx for centrality) → centrality-ranked paper list with virtue theme clusters.

"Write a LaTeX review on MacIntyre's virtues vs managerialism in universities."

Synthesis Agent → gap detection across Hanley (2015) and Christensen (2010) → Writing Agent → latexEditText + latexSyncCitations + latexCompile → formatted PDF review with diagrams.

"Find code or data from papers on virtue ethics organizational analysis."

Research Agent → paperExtractUrls on Kavanagh (2012) → Code Discovery → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → extracted datasets on institutional constraints.

Automated Workflows

Deep Research workflow conducts systematic review of 50+ MacIntyre papers: searchPapers → citationGraph → structured report on virtue applications in education. DeepScan's 7-step analysis verifies claims in Sinnicks (2017) with CoVe checkpoints on practice scope. Theorizer generates theory on virtue reforms from Grosch (2009) and Fox (2025) literature.

Try Doxa for MacIntyre on Virtue and Organization Research

Frequently Asked Questions

What defines MacIntyre's application to organizations in education?

It uses virtue ethics to contrast practices fostering goods with institutions prioritizing efficiency, as in universities (Sinnicks, 2017; Kavanagh, 2012).

What are key methods in this subtopic?

Philosophical analysis of practice-institution distinctions, critiques of neoliberalism via emotional experience (Hanley, 2015), and reflections on university nature (Grosch, 2009).

What are the most cited papers?

Sinnicks (2017, 36 citations) on practice scope in moral education; Hanley (2015, 4 citations) on neoliberal emotions; others like Christensen (2010) have 0 citations.

What open problems exist?

Adapting practices beyond MacIntyre's limits (Kavanagh, 2012), countering neoliberal virtue erosion in social work (Fox, 2025), and resolving quality assurance tensions (Christensen, 2010).