This book provides a brief overview of the fundamental presumptions underlying the idea of management. It is argued that managers and others must endorse these presumptions – the teachings of management – even though they are well aware that their applicability to managerial practice is limited. The author analyzes how the teachings of management are similar to political or religious beliefs and why, unlike such doctrines, they cannot be easily dismissed as outdated or irrelevant. Instead, these assumptions help to construct the idea of the organization, and thus constitute a vital factor in a contemporary society of organizations.

This article makes a distinction between global, organisational, and individual sustainability. It argues that sustainability relates to ethics, and that individuals and organisations are expected to follow different ethical standards. When, in a society of organisations, individuals adopt an organisational kind of ethics, global sustainability is at risk. The article discusses some effects of an organising — rather than an organisational — perspective. It is suggested that global sustainability depends on how individuals define their true interests.