In everyday language, pragmatic describes someone who is grounded in reality and interested in practical application of ideas. Someone who is pragmatic doesn’t expect a unicorn for her birthday, for example, because they know that it won’t fly (pun intended). Pragmatic also refers to a philosophy that advocates taking the best of both worlds, as opposed to idealism or realism. It’s a common way to describe politicians who take a middle ground position that takes arguments from each side into account.
The word pragmatic comes from a Latin root pragma, meaning “to do.” It’s also the same root of the English words practical and praxis. People often confuse pragmatic with semantics, syntax, and semiotics, but they have different definitions. Semantics focuses on rules that determine the literal linguistic meanings of expressions, while syntax deals with how to combine words to form sentences with specific meaning. Semiotics, on the other hand, focuses on the relationships between signs or symbols. Pragmatics combines these disciplines by studying the nonliteral meaning of linguistic expressions and how they relate to physical or social contexts.
Pragmatism was founded by a group of American philosophers including Dewey, James, and Peirce. John Shook, an academic at the University of Michigan and editor of Pragmatism Cybrary, explains that Dewey took his inspiration from the works of a number of eminent American philosophers including George Herbert Mead, Charles Sanders Peirce, and William James.
Unlike the other philosophical movements of the time, which focused on philosophical questions such as the nature of reality, pragmatism sought to answer questions of relevance in our lives. In this way, it was the first philosophy to focus on applied research and problem solving.
While the precise details of pragmatism are complex, its key principles provide a useful framework to understand how it might inform the design and implementation of research on organizational processes. For example, one of the tenets is the emphasis on actionable knowledge, which is defined as the kind of information that can be used to improve performance in practice. This is a principle that should be incorporated in both the initial design and the execution of research on organizational processes.
Another tenet is the valuing of diverse experiences in research, which can lead to a more rounded understanding of a phenomenon. This can be especially important when conducting qualitative studies, where participants’ varying perspectives are critical to the validity of the results. Lastly, pragmatism encourages a flexible and iterative approach to research, in order to maintain connectivity between evolving organizational practices and emergent problems. This, in turn, helps to ensure that the research is relevant and applicable to real-world problems. By emphasizing these tenets, a pragmatist perspective can contribute to the creation of more relevant and valuable research on organizational processes. For more on this topic, check out our article describing the benefits of an iterative research process. It’s also worth reading our guide to the fundamentals of pragmatism. It’s the perfect place to start if you’re new to this philosophy.