Manifesto for a better management a rational and humanistic view

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, a disastrous world economic crisis is creating a very difficult situation for many people. The causes of the crisis are many and complex. The reigning economism looks for mechanical causes (excessively low interest rates, "herd" behavior in the real estate and financial bubbles, etc.). Yet bad management by the people in charge of many of the institutions affected has been crucial. Paradoxically, management can be responsible both for great successes and for great failures. The same term, "management", can refer to very different concepts. The emphasis on immediate effectiveness in terms of financial results (which always turn out to be short-term) as the sole purpose betrays a pessimistic conception of human beings as creatures that react only to economic stimuli, thus neglecting other dimensions that are fundamental to good management, and leading us to the present crisis. In this paper we aim to establish the starting points for good management, explain why management is important for society, critically analyze the present economic crisis and the practices and concepts that led to it, and propose the foundations of a better conception of management for the future, rejecting the culture of shortsightedness. We therefore set forth: a) Which concepts of the company and of management are conducive to management practices that are good for society as a whole. b) Why management is important for the development of human societies in general. c) What is good and what is bad about the practices and theories that currently dominate the world of management. d) How to prevent bad theory and bad practice, including bad applications of good theory, from influencing the broader trends.