This article develops a new perspective on reflexive practice in the making of elite business careers. It builds upon Bourdieu’s practice framework to examine how business leaders from elite and non-elite backgrounds develop and practice reflexivity in their everyday lives. The article draws upon in-depth life-history interviews with members of the British business elite. Elites exhibited five types of reflexive behaviour, from which two modes of reflexive practice were derived: an accumulative mode, through which business leaders reflexively accumulate capital, positions and perspectives; and a re-constructive mode, through which they re-constitute the self in response to contingences, contexts and insights gathered. Our analysis suggests a link between reflexivity and career advancement, particularly in the case of non-privileged elites. Their greater experience of navigating the social landscape may facilitate perspective-taking, enhancing multipositionality, enabling such individuals to seize opportunities previously unthinkable.
AlvessonM (2003) Beyond neopositivists, romantics, and localists: A reflexive approach to interviews in organizational research. Academy of Management Review28(1): 13–33.
2.
AlvessonMHardyCHarleyB (2008) Reflecting on reflexivity: Reflexive practices in organization and management theory. Journal of Management Studies45(3): 480–501.
3.
AnheierHKGerhardsJRomoFP (1995) Forms of capital and social structure in cultural fields: Examining Bourdieu’s social topography. American Journal of Sociology100(4): 859–903.
4.
AntonacopoulouE (2010a) Making the business school more ‘critical’: Reflexive critique based on phronesis as a foundation for impact. British Journal of Management21(S1): S6–S25.
5.
AntonacopoulouE (2010b) The practice of socialization and the socialization of practice. Society and Business Review5(1): 10–21.
6.
AntonacopoulouETsoukasH (2002) Time and reflexivity in organization studies: An introduction. Organization Studies23(6): 857–862.
7.
ArcherMS (2007) Making our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility. Cambridge: CUP.
8.
ArgyrisC (1976) Single-loop and double-loop models in research on decision making. Administrative Science Quarterly21(3): 363–375.
9.
ArgyrisC (2004) Actionable knowledge. In: TsoukasHKnudsenC (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory: Meta Theoretical Perspectives. Oxford: OUP, pp.423–452.
10.
AshmoreM (1989) The Reflexive Thesis: Wrighting Sociology of Scientific Knowledge. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
11.
BeechNMacIntoshRMacLeanD (2010) Dialogues between academics and practitioners: The role of generative dialogue encounters. Organization Studies31(9&10): 1341–1367.
12.
BeechNMacIntoshRMacLeanDShepherdJStokesJ (2002) Exploring constraints on developing knowledge: On the need for conflict. Management Learning34(4): 459–475.
13.
BourdieuP (1990a) In Other Words: Essay toward a Reflexive Sociology. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
14.
BourdieuP (1990b) The Logic of Practice. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
15.
BourdieuP (1993) Some properties of fields. In: Sociology in Question. London: SAGE, pp.72–77.
16.
BourdieuP (1996) The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Cambridge: Polity.
17.
BourdieuPWacquantLJD (1992) An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Cambridge: Polity.
18.
CaloriR (2000) Ordinary theorists in mixed industries. Organization Studies21(6): 1031–1057.
19.
ChiaR (1996) The problem of reflexivity in organizational research: Towards a postmodern science of organization. Organization3(1): 31–59.
20.
ChiaRHoltR (2006) Strategy as practical coping: A Heideggarian perspective. Organization Studies27(5): 635–655.
21.
ContuAWillmottH (2003) Re-embedding situatedness: The importance of power relations in learning theory. Organization Science14(3): 283–296.
22.
CopeJ (2003) Entrepreneurial learning and critical reflection: Discontinuous events as triggers for ‘higher-level’ learning. Management Learning34(4): 429–450.
23.
CunliffeAL (2002) Reflexive dialogical practice in management learning. Management Learning33(1): 35–61.
24.
CunliffeAL (2009) The philosophical leader: On relationalism, ethics and reflexivity – A critical perspective to teaching leadership. Management Learning40(1): 87–101.
GreyC (1994) Career as a project of the self and labour process discipline. Sociology28(2): 479–497.
32.
GuestGBunceAJohnsonL (2006) How many interviews are enough? An experimentation with data saturation and variability. Field Methods18(1): 59–82.
33.
HalseyAH (1995) Change in British Society. 4th edn.Oxford: OUP.
34.
HardyCPhillipsNCleggS (2001) Reflexivity in organization and management theory: A study of the production of the research ‘subject’. Human Relations54(5): 531–560.
35.
HeideggerM (1962) Being and Time. Oxford: Blackwell.
36.
HollandR (1999) Reflexivity. Human Relations52(4): 463–484.
37.
IbarraHBarbulescuR (2010) Identity as narrative: Prevalence, effectiveness and consequences of narrative identity work in macro work role transitions. Academy of Management Review35(1): 135–154.
38.
JohnsonPDuberleyJ (2003) Reflexivity in management research. Journal of Management Studies40(5): 1279–1303.
39.
JordanS (2010) Learning to be surprised: How to foster reflective practice in a high-reliability context. Management Learning41(4): 391–413.
40.
JordanSMessnerMBeckerA (2009) Reflection and mindfulness in organizations: Rationales and possibilities for integration. Management Learning40(4): 465–473.
LewisMWKelemenML (2002) Multiparidigm inquiry: Exploring organizational pluralism and paradox. Human Relations55(2): 251–275.
43.
MacIntoshRMacLeanD (1999) Conditioned emergence: A dissipative structures approach to transformation. Strategic Management Journal20(4): 297–316.
44.
McKinnesPBeechNde Caesteckeretal. (2006) Identity dynamics as barrier to organisational change. International Journal of Public Administration29: 1109–1124.
45.
MacleanMHarveyCChiaR (2010) Dominant corporate agents and the power elite in France and Britain. Organization Studies31(3): 327–348.
46.
MacleanMHarveyCChiaR (2012) Sensemaking, storytelling and the legitimization of elite business careers. Human Relations65(1): 17–40.
47.
MacleanMHarveyCPressJ (2006) Business Elites and Corporate Governance in France and the UK. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
48.
McLeodCO’DonohoeSTownleyB (2009) The elephant in the room? Class and creative careers in British advertising agencies. Human Relations62(7): 1011–1039.
49.
MilesMBHubermanAM (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. 2nd edn.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
50.
MutchA (2003) Communities of practice and habitus: A critique. Organization Studies24(3): 383–401.
51.
PettigrewA (1992) On studying managerial elites. Strategic Management Journal13(2): 163–182.
52.
PrattMGRockmannKWKaufmannJB (2006) Constructing professional identity: The role of work and identity learning cycles in the customization of identity among medical residents. Academy of Management Journal49(2): 235–262.
53.
SchippersMCDen HartogDNKoopmanPL. (2008) The role of transformational leadership in enhancing team reflexivity. Human Relations61(11): 1593–1616.
54.
SegalS (2010) A Heideggarian approach of practice-based reflexivity. Management Learning41(4): 379–389.
55.
SiggelkowN (2007) Persuasion with Case Studies’, Academy of Management Journal50(1): 20–24.
56.
SimsDHuxhamCBeechN (2009) On telling stories but hearing snippets: Sense-taking from presentations of practice. Organization16(3): 371–388.
57.
TsoukasH (2004) Complex Knowledge: Studies in Organizational Epistemology. Oxford: OUP.
58.
VaaraEFaÿE (2011) How Can a Bourdieusian perspective aid analysis of MBA education?Academy of Management Learning & Education10(1): 27–39.
WoolgarS (ed.) Knowledge and Reflexivity: New Frontiers in the Sociology of Knowledge. London: SAGE.
64.
XingYSimsD (2012) Leadership, Daoist Wu Wei and reflexivity: Flow, self-protection and excuse in Chinese bank managers’ leadership practice. Management Learning43(1): 97–112.
65.
YinRK (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 4th edn.London: SAGE.
