Business and the Brain: Discourses on Neuroscience in Business in the Management Consulting Industry

Sammanfattning: TITLE: Business and the Brain – Discourses on Neuroscience in Business in the Management Consulting Industry AUTHORS: Katharina Mündlein & Tineke Zwart SUPERVISORS: Carys Egan-Wyer & Katie Rose Sullivan DATE: 22nd May 2013 PURPOSE: The purpose of this thesis is to provide both theoretical and practical insights into the emerging connection of neuroscience and business by revealing the discourse used in the management consulting industry set in a broader discourse. RELEVANCE: The emerging connection of neuroscience and business is already gradually starting to be applied by management consultants without a clear in-depth and/or broad understanding of its scope, which in turn leads to a lack in conceptualizing the meaning and implications for business. METHODOLOGY: Our exploratory research analyzes discourses based on a qualitative research design from a poststructuralist perspective. We conducted nine semi-structured interviews and analyzed nine popular business press documents with respect to neuroscience in order to approach the subject matter from a twofold perspective. FINDINGS: Five discourse themes became apparent: ‘Improve Performance’, ‘Scientific Answer’, ‘Innovation and Progress’, ‘Human Factor’, and ‘New Language’. CONTRIBUTIONS: We contributed to the holistic picture of the phenomenon by adding a poststructuralist perspective highlighting the challenging yet reproducing discourse, the added value and the arising ethical paradox. Practical implications are still limited; however neuroscience plays out as a selling point for consultants and informant for organizations.