Of all the sciences and social sciences, management is the one that most deliberately turns its back on the past. Yet management as we know it today did not spring into life fully formed. Management has more than just a present; it also has a past, and a future, and all three are inextricably linked. This book charts the evolution of management as an intellectual discipline, from ancient times to the present day. Contemporary management challenges, including sustainability, technology and data, and legitimacy are analysed through an historical lens and with the benefit of new case studies. The author helps readers understand how the evolution of management ideas has interacted with changes in society. By framing management's history as one of challenge and response, this new edition is the perfect accompaniment for students and scholars seeking meaningful study in the business school and beyond. Essential reading as a core textbook in management history, the book is also valuable supplementary reading across the humanities and social sciences.

Textbook on the evolution of management theory - traces historical aspects, consequences of industrialization for industrial management, the advent of scientific management, spreading of the efficiency gospel, personnel management, human relations, business organization, operational management, etc. Bibliography pp. 563 to 576 and diagrams.

This book describes the millennia-long process of the genesis, formation, struggle, and change of views on the management of social organizations in various countries around the world; in other words, it characterizes the worldwide evolution of the History of Management Thought (HMT) - ideas, concepts, theories, paradigms, and scientific schools - from Antiquity to the present. The book is the outcome of extensive research, based on the analysis, generalization, and systematization of foreign and domestic published literature, as well as on the gathering and analysis of unique archival materials. For the first time in the historical and managerial literature, the book puts forward original definitions of three historical and managerial sciences - the History of Management, the History of Management Thought, and the Historiography of Historical and Managerial Research. It addresses the main challenges in pursuing Historical and Scientific Research (HSR), the main “subject” levels of HSR and specific methodological problems concerning HMT, as well as epistemological methods for identifying key factors in and causes of the advent and evolution of HMT. This book presents both the origins of management thought dating back to the 5th millennium BC and the latest management concepts of the early 21st century. In particular, it traces the origins and sources of management thought, reflected in the works of thinkers and statesmen of the Ancient World (Egypt, Western Asia, China, India, Greece, and Rome), the era of feudalism, and the Middle Ages (Byzantium, Western Europe, and England), the era of inception capitalism (Western Europe and the USA), as well as the new and recent history of management thought of the 20th and 21st centuries. In addition, for the first time in History of Management literature, it presents the history of Russian management thought from the 9th century to modern concepts and scientific schools.

Rev. ed. of: The evolution of management thought. 4th ed. c1994

This book argues that if we are to think differently about management, we must first rewrite management history.

The book's premise is that the theories taught in management schools are based on unacknowledged philosophical perspectives that are significant not so much for what they explain, but for what they assume. Rarely made explicit, these perspectives cannot be reconciled, with the result that the study of management has been dominated by contradictions and internecine intellectual warfare. However, the ability critically to analyze these diverse perspectives is essential to practicing and aspiring managers if they are to evaluate expert opinion. Moreover, since management is primarily an exercise in communication, managing is impossible in the darkness of an imprecise language, in the absence of moral references, or in the senseless outline of a world without intellectual foundations. Managing is a prime example of applied philosophy.