Title: The ecology of management: Cassandra, a holistic diagnostic for sustainable performance

Authors: Walter Baets

Addresses: Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract: |Shareholder value only| belongs to the mainstream managerial paradigm that is increasingly called into question. The recent worldwide financial crisis is only the latest manifestation of a paradigm that does seem to focus on growth (as defined by GDP per capita) but in an unequal way. It is increasingly questioned how the economy can move from a shareholder perspective to a stakeholder perspective. With less and less time to lose, people cannot afford the luxury of continuing to think in a paradigm that hardly questions the |negative| side effect of its own ontology. The framework of a short term business view, ignoring the devastating impact of our consumerism on our own environment and our own well being, is no longer tenable. This paper suggests a paradigm that caters for sustainability, responsibility and ethics, and at the same time it makes an attempt to design a tool for sustainable performance.

Keywords: complexity; holistic management; sustainable performance; personal development; organisational development; shareholder perspective; stakeholder perspective; sustainability; responsibility; ethics; sustainable development; economic growth; equality; short term business view; consumerism.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCLM.2010.035787

International Journal of Complexity in Leadership and Management, 2010 Vol.1 No.1, pp.37 - 54

Published online: 04 Oct 2010 *

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