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on the development of a working career, and the creation of new forms ofwork, such as quality circles. According to Th%u00e9v%u00e9net et al. (2012, p.60) theonset of the era of the concept of human resource management representeda real valorisation of people management, which gradually created its owntools, procedures and work methods.It follows from the characteristics of the mentioned stages that each stage ofpeople management corresponded to a certain collective aspiration, expressedby a specific identity, the building of which also represented a newprofessionalisation of the approach to employees. Given that the beginning ofHRM dates back to the early 1980s, this stage of the development of personnelwork is historically the longest. The average length of previous developmentstages was 20 years at most. According to some authors (Arnaud, 2013;Lelarge, 2014; Peretti, 2017), quite naturally, the question arises as to why theconcept of HR management has not been transformed into the next stage ofdevelopment, in which people management would acquire a new formal identityand professional ambition, and could thus better respond to the unprecedented,significant, and rapid changes in the economic and social environmentmanifested especially since the turn of the millennium. n 2. 3. 2. People management in a changing economic and social contextThe shift of people management to the next developmental stage, which wouldrepresent a new level of its professionalisation and a certain collective ambition,is required by unquestionable changes in the economic and social environmentwhich creates the basic context in which the given managerial function is carriedout. Its difficulty lies in harmonising the economic and social goals of thecompany, in other words, in satisfying the interests of its owners, managers,and employees at the same time. Many authors are convinced that the age-oldopposition of these interests is no longer justified (Angel et al., 2005; Citeau,2000; G%u00e9linier, 1999; Liger, 2004, etc.), and that companies cannot separatetheir economic activity from social, or subordinate social ambitions fromeconomic results. On the contrary, fulfilling economic goals enables companiesto realise their social goals. Moreover, because the economic and socialenvironment of the company, as the general operating framework of theperformance of people management, have changed significantly in recent yearsand the harmonisation of economic and social goals has become even morechallenging for companies, but also more insistent. Let%u2019s take a look at the mostsignificant changes that the economic and social environment has experiencedin recent decades, which subsequently also require a metamorphosis of HRmanagement.842 European Entrepreneurship