Why are well-intentioned managers unable to find suitable solutions to the environmental problems of our time?[Pourquoi les managers de bonne volonté n’arrivent-ils pas à trouver de solutions adaptées aux maux écologiques de notre temps ?]

So what now? Why are good-will managers unable to find and/or implement solutions suited to the problems of our time? As humanity comes up hard against a ‘Real' that it no longer grasps, we wonder whether we might not be trapped within an imaginary world and a social system of representation that have left us blind. The fact that management sciences are opening up to decarbonisation issues is very good news, but to what end? And why not directly incorporate the nine planetary boundaries? What are we failing to see, and how have we become blind? Five fundamental approaches to management are identified and proposed. Management is the historical and cultural outcome of a society that takes into account only what is or can be a source of value (1), which is obscured by an enlightening reason that has become instrumental rationality (2), particularly in the field of science, where whole sections tend to reduce the world to a binary equation by aiming solely at technical efficiency (3), and which is based on the simulation of individual interests (4) and driven by the need to balance conflicting particular interests and constraints (5) that are often irreconcilable with the preservation of life. We offer an ethical compass inspired by various schools of thought. For example, is the good or service a basic human necessity, produced in an environmentally sustainable way and in a fair economic manner? (Kant)? What method should we adopt to collectively and deliberatively examine ends and means (Dewey)? How might we contribute to a good life, with and for others within just institutions (Ricœur)? How can we care for all living beings (Jonas)? How can we become aware of the interconnection of all forms of life? All is one.