As humanity faces mounting challenges—including environmental crises, social inequality, geopolitical conflict, and growing uncertainty about the future—the need for responsible management has never been greater. This book argues that management is not merely a matter of efficiency, competition, or profit, but a practice grounded in responsibility toward society, future generations, and the planet.

Drawing on the principles of responsible management education, the book explores how businesses, leaders, and educational institutions can contribute to sustainable development and the common good. It invites readers to reconsider the purpose of management and the role of organizations in creating a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world.

Written for students, educators, and practitioners alike, this volume offers both a critical reflection on contemporary management and a hopeful vision for the future. It encourages readers not only to become more effective managers, but also more responsible leaders and global citizens.

CHAPTER 1 The Ontological Purpose of the Firm

1. Why Do Firms Exist?

2. Three Guiding Questions on the Path toward Great Management

3. The Meaning of the Business Organization

4. Then, What Is Management as a Discipline?

5. A Framework for Understanding Management in an Era of Civilizational Transformation

6. Responsible Management and the Future of Humanity

7. Summary and Reflection Questions

CHAPTER 2 A New Paradigm for Management in an Era of Civilizational Transformation

1. The Narrative of Management as a Discipline

2. A Historical Turning Point in Corporate Management

3. The Business Ecosystem and Stakeholder Management

4. Era of Civilizational Transformation: Recovering the Heart of Management

5. Summary and Reflection Questions

CHAPTER 3 Planning: Towards a Purpose-Driven Company

1. The First Step toward Great Management: Purpose-Driven Corporate Management

2. The Importance of the Planning Management Process

3. Foundational Concepts of Planning

4. The Historical Shift in Strategic Management

5. Stakeholder Management Strategies for the Conscious Business

6. The Business Ecosystem and Stakeholder Management: Holistic Interdependence

7. Summary and Reflection Questions

CHAPTER 4 Organizing: Toward a Life-Affirming Organizational System

1. The Meaning of the Organizing Management Process

2. The Business Organization: A Machine or a Living System?

3. The Learning Organization and Knowledge Management

4. Toward a Community of Practice

5. Responsible Management: Caring for the Business and the Planetary Ecological Systems

6. Beyond Knowledge Management toward Wisdom Management

7. Summary and Reflection Questions

CHAPTER 5 Leading: Leadership That Awakens Wisdom

1. Understanding Human Behavior

2. Human Nature and the Agent of Corporate Management

3. Motivation Theory

4. Motivation Process Theories

5. Self-Actualization and Organizational Management

6. Beyond Motivation: Toward Cultivation of Inspiration

7. Leadership Theory

8. Leadership that Awakens Wisdom

9. Organizational Culture

10. Summary and Reflection Questions

CHAPTER 6 Controlling: An Invitation to a Shared Journey255

1. The Basic Concepts of Controlling

2. The Twenty-first Century Business Environment and the Challenges of Controlling Management 

3. Strategic Performance Management in the Era of Responsible Management

4. From Controlling to Engagement and Self-Organization

5. Summary and Reflection Questions

CHAPTER 7 The Vocation of Business Leaders

Yong-Seung Park is Professor of Management at the School of Management, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He received his B.A. in Business Administration from Sogang University and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota.

His research and teaching focus on responsible management grounded in human dignity, with particular attention to the moral purpose of business, stakeholder responsibility, sustainability, and the transformation of management education. Through his engagement with the United Nations Global Compact and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME), he has actively participated in international efforts to advance a new paradigm of business and management education for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science and was a recipient of the 2017 UN PRME Pioneer Award. His major publications include Safety Practices, Firm Culture, and Workplace Injuries (W. E. Upjohn Institute, 2001) and the Korean edition of Responsible Management: The Great Transformation in Business (2021), which was selected as a 2022 Outstanding Academic Book by the National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea. He also translated Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection into Korean (Korean Catholic Press, 2014).