Managing as Creating

抄録

Over the past twenty years, the principles and vocabulary of management have infiltrated nearly every sphere of human activity. These days, we don't just manage our businesses, but also our lives, our relationships and even our emotions! Management has become so pervasive that many people assimilate all the latest theories and models without even realizing it. The slogans abound, vying with one another to proclaim their “truth, ” whether it be that the customer is king, that profit is the only goal possible, that firms must grow or die, that you have to compete globally, or that you can't improve what you can't measure. Managers, in particular, are bombarded on a daily basis with “messages” that inevitably end up shaping their approach and dictating their actions. Even without having taken the relevant training, they adopt a pre-packaged management practice that is modelled after or dictated by the latest flavour of the month.
This document represents a collective position and has been signed by people from diverse horizons, including executives, deans, professors, researchers, artists and students. Our focus is on the management in general of organizations of any kind, on the leadership of people and on the training of managers. Our intended audience includes all those who live within organizations, and, in particular, that new breed of expert that has emerged over the past fifty years or so.