Basic Terms in Modern Management: Problems and Suggestions

At the end of the twentieth century, the world witnessed another management revolution, which was accompanied by the introduction of international standards in organizational management on a scale never seen before. One of the tasks of international standardization was to stream-line the system of terms that would, on the one hand, reflect the latest changes in the understanding of governance/management, and on the other hand, create opportunities for adequate and uniform interpretation and application of these terms in the creation of modern management systems in organizations. The basic terms were enshrined in the international standard ISO 9000:2000 Quality management systems. Fundamentals and vocabulary, which has become a fundamental document in the system of international standards for management systems. Ukraine did not realize the changes that had taken place in the world in the field of management, and in 2001 the state standard DSTU ISO 9000:2001, which was proclaimed as “identical” to ISO 9000:2000, inadequately defined the term “management” and some related terms, which led to a distortion of the understanding of the essence of management. For more than 20 years, this fundamental error has been widespread in Ukraine, causing significant confusion and damage to Ukraine. In order to eliminate the problem and increase the efficiency of management in Ukraine, the article examines the essence of modern management and the state of its awareness and reflection in Ukrainian state standards, dictionaries, management textbooks and manuals, and various regulatory documents, including state ones. The author reveals discrepancies and offers and substantiates proposals for the use in Ukraine of the main terms that really reflect the essence of modern management. In particular, this is a group of terms contained in the concept of management, a group of terms reflecting the professions of performers of the main management processes, and a group of terms describing the perfection of an organization and its management system.