Overview
- Presents a concise, accessible description of Michel Foucault’s approach to critical history
- Argues that sustainability is not a new idea in management, but one of the oldest
- Provides a fresh perspective on a very current topic
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Table of contents (4 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
We might think sustainable management is a new idea, created in the 1960s by enlightened modern scientists. We might think that it puts us on a new path, beyond what management was originally about. But this is not true. Sustainable management is as old as civilization and was a foundation stone of management science as it was formed in the first decade of the 20th century. Recovering this forgotten past provides deeper roots and greater traction to advance sustainable management in our own times.
This book charts a history of sustainable management from premodern times, through the birth of management science as an offshoot of the conservation movement, to the present day. The authors argue that modern tools like Triple Bottom Line reporting and multiple Sustainable Development Goals may be less useful than a return to a more fundamental and holistic view of management.
Reviews
"Unconventional, informative and inspiring, this is historical storytelling at its very best! Cummings and Bridgman offer a ‘counter’ history of management, grounded not in the FW Taylor’s pursuit of efficiency in pursuit of wealth, but in Louis Brandeis’ interests in conservation and social justice."
-Tima Bansal, Executive Director and Founder, Network for Business Sustainability, nbs.com
"This book opens our eyes to a history almost lost, and provides essential reading for sustainability students, researchers and advocates in the fight to make business a purpose-led institution – again – 100 years after Louis Brandeis and Mary Parker Follett envisaged it this way."
-Sarah Ivory, Director, Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability, University of Edinburgh“Management today might be tragically unprepared to deal with climate change. Yet this exciting book shows that historically, management science was more concerned with conservation rather than growth at all costs. It explains how reconnecting with this important past can lead us to a better future.”
-Christina Lubinski, Professor of Entrepreneurial History, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Stephen Cummings is Professor of Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Co-Chair of The Academy of Management’s Critical Management Studies Division.
Todd Bridgman is Associate Professor of Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Management Learning.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Past, Present and Future of Sustainable Management
Book Subtitle: From the Conservation Movement to Climate Change
Authors: Stephen Cummings, Todd Bridgman
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71076-7
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Business and Management, Business and Management (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-71075-0Published: 06 June 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-71076-7Published: 05 June 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 150
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics: Sustainability Management, Business Ethics, Business Strategy/Leadership, Economic History