Management in the anthropocene and what comes out of It : analysis of the literature on the entanglement of phenomena

Bibliogr. s. 39-42

The Anthropocene is a term that not only conjures up all kinds of images in the mind but provides an impulse to reconsider the scope of human responsibility for man-triggered processes and its place in the system of related factors on our planet. At the same time, it is a term treated by many with ambivalence, reluctance, and caution, as it often harbingers the imminent environmental doom, the awareness of which may change the current balance of political and economic forces. Additionally, it is still involved in emphasizing the central role of the human, it is sometimes romanticized and can lead to an aestheticization of the climate catastrophe instead of taking actions resulting not from the will of heroism, but from humility. The ongoing debate on the Anthropocene in the field of management studies is of extraordinary importance, because it provides a framework for undertaking any activity – the activity which either aggravates or alleviates the negative environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contexts in which the scientific literature in the field of management talks about the Anthropocene and to explore the level of gravity that is assigned to management in this conventional geological and cultural era. Particular attention is paid to the dominant trends of reflection which illustrate a wide variety of attitudes towards the Anthropocene, including the one that places the Anthropocene against the background of efforts to maintain the status quo and the one that perceives it as a prelude to concocting alternative or even anarchist visions of management. The paper focuses on theoretical voices, which determined the method of analysis based on the study of language and the interpretation of narratives and metaphors.