Reflecting on the Relationship Between Virtue and Competence inIslamic Management

This paper examined the relationship between the two basic criteria "virtue" and "competence" in Islamic Management. Studies showed that from the perspective of management scholars in the West virtues and technical competencies have been taken identical and primarily in Western management paradigm no distinction has been drawn between these two measuresin most cases (MC Cowli and Lawtan, 2006). Regarding the fact that virtuesdefinedsomewhatdifferentlyin Islam fromwhat has been inthe West by the dominant view, in this paper by using semi-structured questionnaires and interviews it is tried to answer this question that does virtues have the same value as technical merits and competencies or is there significant difference between them in Islamic management which its basic valueshave differed somewhatfrom thevalues ofWesternmanagement? The statistical population for this study was as follows: a group of faculty members anddoctoral students of management at University of Tehran, University of Tarbiat Modarres and University of Allameh Tabatabaei, well-knowledgeable in principles of Islamic management and also number of Hawzah scholars, typically experts in the field of Islamic management. Findings from the data analysis showed thatrespondents, besides making distinction between virtues and competencies, in most cases have not taken these two criteria necessarily identical from the perspective of Islamic managementand contrary to popular opinion in the West and subsequently in Western management paradigm, virtue and competence criteria are two separate and somewhat different criteria from each other.