Redefining Management: The Manager/Leader–Relevant Stakeholder Paradigm

Redefning Management: The Manager/Leader–Relevant Stakeholder Paradigm presents a groundbreaking shift in management philosophy, theory, and practice, introducing the innovative concept of the manager/leader–relevant stakeholder.
This paradigm challenges the traditional manager–subordinate model and ofers a holistic approach to organizational management and performance management theory and practice. Drawing on digital transformation, artifcial intelligence, and intellectual capital, this book reshapes approaches, policies, decision-making processes and provides insights into organiza-
tional strategies, leadership, human resources management, and sustainable performance in the context of the new paradigm.
This book presents a revolutionary vision for management, ofering practical strategies to navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape and foster sustainable growth. It assists academics, researchers, and students in updating their approaches and promoting sustainable development through innovative management practices and may equip professionals and practitioners with collaborative, creative, and fexible approaches to enhance organizational functionality and address societal challenges.
The transition to the capitalist economy and society has marked a comprehensive and spectacular leap in the feld of   management. Substantial and accelerated advances in technology, education, and science have been accompanied by similar developments in management practice. The number, variety, and potential of organizations, especially companies, increase at a very fast pace. To exist, function, and perform, they need competent management.
As a result, management practice is developing at an accelerated pace at the company and state levels. Management has manifested itself as a feld with major infuence on the activities carried out and the results obtained at the level of all entities.
Starting with the second half of the 19th century, developed countries presented management practice with a pronounced specifcity and scientifc content, increasingly complex, dynamic, and performant. In this context, at the beginning of the 20th century, management science took shape, when the complexity and dynamism of the evolution of activities in all felds—and primarily the economic feld—imposed as an objective
necessity on management new bases. Science has evolved to provide the epistemological and methodological premises that are indispensable for the crystallization of management as a science. Scientifc management practice is based on the use of concepts, approaches, principles, strategies, systems, and methodologies provided by Redefning Management management theory and philosophy. Naturally, this type of management practice developed in the 20th century with the proliferation of management science. In recent decades, there has been a rapid amplifcation of scientifc management practice, accompanied by an increase in its performance in the entities where it is exercised.
However, scientifc management practice is not limited to a simple application of the elements made available by science. The complexity and diversity of management situations also require creative input from managers to adapt the scientifc management tools and concepts to the concrete conditions of each situation. Within this process, the manager often adapts and develops the methods and techniques to achieve management innovation—sometimes even without being aware of it. It can be stated without any reluctance that a good manager is also always a creator in approaching and solving the problems of the managed feld.
Another major characteristic of scientifc management practice is its diversity and heterogeneity from the point of view of its content and means of manifestation compared with management science. A management principle or certain method is operationalized in entities in countless ways due to diferent technical, economic, scientifc, and commercial conditions and diferences between managers and executants in terms of training, experi-
ence, temperament, age, interests, and state of mind. 
Regarding the diversity of the scientifc practice, we consider it necessary to emphasize that the latest very innovative developments in management practice represent components of scientifc practice and not a new type of practice as stated by some specialists. We refer to a very recent study by Stark and Vanden Broeck (2024): the authors do not consider collaborative management and algorithmic management to be part of scientifc management practice (and they are perhaps even opposite to it). 
Another peculiarity of scientifc management practice is its pronounced human character, which results from the fact that it is fully manifested through people’s decisions and actions. Indeed, its content precisely represents the modeling of their work and behaviors. Referring to this aspect, the well-known French specialist and publicist Servan-Schreiber (1967)
wrote that “management is the art of arts because it involves directing the talent of others.”
Hence, scientifc management is characterized by its particular complexity and difculty. There are no two identical people. Moreover, a person changes to a certain extent the way he/she thinks, behaves, and acts over time as a result of: his/her experiences; his/her physiological, intellectual, and moral evolutions; changing working and living conditions; and  changing national and international contexts. Currently, both empirical and scientifc management practices are used simultaneously. Against the backdrop of the amplifcation and Management Practice, Theory, and Philosophy 7 dissemination of knowledge provided by management theory and philosophy, the increase in the level of managerial training of numerous managers from all types of entities, the increase in the population’s openness and receptivity to new knowledge, and the amplifcation of fexible and innovative attitudes and behaviors have led to a rapid and efective proliferation of scientifc management practice. In parallel, however, numerous micro-,meso-, and macrosocial entities and empirical management predominate for many managers, albeit with a decreasing tendency.
Here, we would like to state that the transformations within management practice have been the most intense and diversifed within the last decades. The transition to a knowledge-based economy, digitalization, internationalization, and the other megashifts (e.g., economic, ecological, social, or health crises) have caused multiple changes and innovative transformations in scientifc management practice aimed at ensuring the functionality, sustainability, and competitiveness of managed systems. Naturally, society as a whole, and especially through its specialized bodies—education, research and development, mass media, etc.—acts so that scientifc management practice is generalized as quickly as possible. Indeed, quick action is decisive for the functioning and development of all human entities and for the efective and sustainable solution of the problems associated with the great societal challenges and current crises. Management  Science/Theory Defnition and Characteristics of Management Science Management as a theory and science was crystallized at the beginning of the 20th century and developed through the eforts of a large number of specialists from all over the world, in response to the pressing needs of social practice and in line with the rapid progress of science in many felds. Management is approached—as we have already pointed out—from multiple points of view that often difer substantially from each other. Based on the examination of the defnitions of numerous management specialists at the beginning of this chapter and our own analyses carried out over several decades (Nicolescu, 1980; Nicolescu & Verboncu, 2001), we formulate the following defnition of the science of organization management: it involves studying the management processes and relationships within an organization to discover the laws and principles that govern them and to design new systems, methods, techniques, and ways of management, likely to ensure that the organization obtains, maintains, and increases its functionality and performance.
The originality of this approach and defnition resides in the fact that for the frst time managerial relationships are discovered and analyzed in Redefning Management close interdependence with the management processes considered before by other specialists. So, the specifc object of analysis of management science is management processes and relations. These should not be confused with economic relations and processes, which have a totally different content, nor with other components of an entity of an economic, technical, or human nature. Through content and mode of manifestation, management processes and relationships present a series of particular features that give this science its pronounced specifcity. Therefore, the essence of management science is the study of management relationships and processes. As a result of this study, the principles, laws, regularities, and other essential elements that explain the content and dynamics of management are discovered. These elements, as well as the processes and relationships they refect, evolve continuously. Hence, there is the need for the creative efort of continuous deciphering and updating so that they express the essence of management in all its complexity, corresponding to current and future conditions.
Considering the applied nature of this science, a major role in its framework is held by the design of new management systems, methods, techniques, procedures, etc., for an organization as a whole and its major components. Developed based on the study of management relationships and processes and the discovered laws, the methodological elements of management science represent the tools available to managers and their collaborators to increase the performance of an organization. Characteristic of the science of organization management is the positioning, at the center of its investigations, of man in all his complexity, as a subject and as an object of management, through the lens of his objectives, in close interdependence with the objectives, resources, and means of the systems in which he is integrated. The efect of this approach is a multilateral analysis of management relationships and processes, which is refected in the multidisciplinary nature of managerial knowledge directly subordinated to increase an organization’s performance.
Enterprise or company management represents a component of the science of organization management—in fact, it is the most developed, known, and important. A convincing illustration of this reality is the fact that more than two-thirds of the world’s management literature is dedicated to enterprise or other economic organizations. Such a situation is mainly explained by two causes:

• Enterprise is the basic economic agent of every economy, the main generator of added value and jobs, within which the majority of the employed population in every country carries out its activity, regardless of its level of development. Hence, multiple economic, social, political, and ecological implications of enterprise management hold special importance.
• Enterprise was the object of the frst crystallization of management science. It has continued to be one of the most fertile felds of innovation in terms of management theory and practice, with the direct and intermediate contribution of a large number of people.

The position that the management of an organization holds within management science and the interdependencies with its other components are refected in its double character. First, it is a synthetic economic discipline. Its economic character is derived from its main purpose—to increase economic competitiveness—
from the economic optics in which it approaches most of the problems with
which it is confronted, from the appreciable weight that economic concepts and methods have within it, and from the economic nature of the enter-prises on which exercise. It is a synthetic economic science because it takes a series of economic categories and methods from numerous other economic disciplines: political economy, fnance, economic analysis, accounting, marketing, technical–material supply, fnance, and others. Second, management has a multidisciplinary character, determined by the integration within its framework and content of a series of sociological, computer science, philosophical, mathematical, psychological, statistical, juridical, ecological, etc., concepts and methods, using them in a specifc manner to refect the particularities of management relations and processes. It should be noted that in the last decades, there has been a tendency to amplify this character, as a result of the foundation of management science on a systemic conception, due to the rapid development of numerous sciences that approach the entities that form the object of management, including an organization, from various points of view.
The set of work processes that take place in any human system, in  any organization, can be divided into two main categories: execution pro-
cesses and management processes. The execution processes in the organization are characterized by the fact that the workforce either acts directly on the objects of work through the means of work, or indirectly, with the help of special categories of means of work, digitized, automated, mechanized, etc., to generate a set of products and services corresponding to the nature of the work processes in-
volved and the foreseen objectives. Management processes, unlike execution processes, are mainly characterized by the fact that part of the workforce acts on the other part, the majority of human resources, to achieve the highest possible performance, having a predominantly multidimensional character. More concretely, the management processes in an organization comprise the set of phases that determine its objectives and those of the incorporated subsystems, the re-
sources and work processes necessary to achieve them and their executants. The work of internal and external stakeholders is integrated and controlled using a complex array of approaches, methods, and techniques to fulfll as performant as possible the reasons that determined the establishment of the respective organization.
Several main components are defned within management processes; they correspond to the functions of management. In our view, these functions are forecasting, organization, coordination, mobilization (motivation), and control-evaluation, the defnitions of which are presented in Table 1 We specify that, consistent with the defnitions of management presented at the beginning of this chapter, there are many ways to structure managerial functions. These functions make up the content of the typical management process, which is exercised in all organizations, including companies, regardless of their characteristics. The typical management process can be structured, depending on the way in which its functions are conceived and exercised, into three main phases.

• The predictive phase is characterized by the preponderance of forecast-
ing and by the exercise of the other components of the management process in a prospective vision. It is focused on anticipating modalities; methods; and organizational, motivational, and evaluative solutions corresponding to the predetermined evolution of the respective organization and its stakeholders. Predictive-type management focuses on establishing objectives for the respective organization, with priority given to strategic and tactical decisions, providing it with an anticipatory character.
• The operationalization phase is characterized by the preponderance of organization, coordination, and mobilization of the employees and other relevant internal and external stakeholders for the daily achievement of the objectives contained in an organization’s prognosis and plans. This phase corresponds to operative management, which has a strong efectual character, in which the adoption and implementation of current decisions predominates, most of them related to the activities generating products and services.
• Commensuration and interpretation of the results is characterized by the preponderance of the evaluation-control function considering the objectives and criteria established in the frst phase. It corresponds to postoperative management and has a strong ascertaining character.

Table 1

During this phase, a managerial cycle ends and the conditions are pre-
pared for the resumption of the next cycle. There is notable interdependence between these three phases, which are difcult to dissociate due to the unity and complexity of the management process and the systemic nature of any organization’s activities. It should be emphasized that knowledge, information, and people are the main “raw materials” on which the management phases and functions are based. The human factor plays a special primary role in management because human resources are simultaneously the object and subject of man-
agement. The employees of an organization are managed and also include those who manage and hold managerial positions within it. Knowledge and
information serve to make decisions, the main managerial tool, through
which the specifcity of management processes is manifested in the most meaningful way. The management performance of an organization, regard-
less of its profle or size, depends signifcantly on the quality of management decisions. Although, quantitatively, the management processes represent only a small share of the overall work processes, which otherwise grow continuously due to their content, complexity, and implications, they often have a decisive role for the competitiveness of an organization. In fact, the execu-
tion and management processes are complementary; their delimitation is the natural result of the deepening of the social division of labor. Management processes ensure, based on specialized skills and competencies, the potentiation of execution processes and the rational aggregation of results in accordance with economic and social needs, with the requirements of internal and external customers, and with the interests of an entity’s main stakeholders.