Press article, video or other popular media
Year
2025
Abstract
Une version française de cet article est disponible ici : https://knowledge.essec.edu/fr/sustainability/co-laborer-sur-notre-rapport-au-monde.html Management education and practice remain trapped in outdated Taylorian frameworks that assume linear control and predictable outcomes, despite the complex realities of contemporary organizations and environmental challenges. A “managerial ecology” inspired by gardening principles offers an alternative approach that emphasizes patient observation, diversity cultivation, margin experimentation, and evolutionary adaptation over rigid planning and standardization. This framework advocates replacing the illusion of total control with situational intelligence, systematic experimentation, and acceptance of uncertainty as normal components of organizational life. Management schools must fundamentally rethink their training methods, moving away from ideation and planning-focused approaches toward developing “organizational gardening” – a more humble, adaptive, and ecologically-informed approach to leading human systems that recognizes organizations as living ecosystems rather than mechanical constructs.
CAVARRETTA, F. (2025). Cultivating our worldviews. ESSEC Knowledge.