Judgment-in-Practice: A Phenomenological Perspective

Judgment is broadly understood as a process wherein people draw on their understanding of extant situations to evaluate developments and possible responses. Thus far, organization and management theory (OMT) research has sought to understand judgment by differentially emphasizing cognition and wisdom. Studies emphasizing cognition, conceptualize judgment as a predominantly mental process of evaluating options. Studies emphasizing wisdom, conceptualize judgment as a reflective process that goes beyond information processing and is essentially situated and context-dependent. Despite the valuable contributions of extant studies, judgment is thus far seen as an activity, but it has not been conceptualized as a fundamental aspect underpinning the very nature of organizing which is present at all times and emerges in practices. This paper aims to complement existing understandings of judgment in OMT by offering a theorization that integrates insights from both perspectives. We seek to do so by theorizing the lived experience of judgment and illustrating that the latter is entwined with practices that practitioners inevitably engage with as part of their everyday work. To illustrate our conceptual framework we draw upon the memoirs of Martin Luther King Jr during the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.