Synopses & Reviews
Chapter OneManagement Is Business ManagementFor most people, inside and outside management, this assumption is taken as self-evident. Indeed management writers, management practitioners and the laity do not even hear the word "management"; they automatically hear BUSINESS MANAGEMENT.This assumption regarding the universe of management is of fairly recent origin. Before the 1930s the few writers and thinkers who concerned themselves with management -- beginning with Frederick Winslow Taylor around the turn of the century and ending with Chester Barnard just before World War II -- all assumed that business management is just a subspecies of general management and basically no more different from the management of any other organization than one breed of dogs is from another breed of dogs.The first "practical application of management theory did not take place in a business but in nonprofits and government agencies. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915), the inventor of "Scientific Management," in all probability also coined the terms "Management" and "Consultant" in their present meaning. On his calling card he identified himself as "Consultant to Management" -- and he explained that he had intentionally chosen these new and strange terms to shock potential clients into awareness of his offering something totally new. But Taylor did not cite a business but the nonprofit Mayo Clinic as the "perfect example" of "Scientific Management" in his 1912 testimony before the Congress which first made the United States management-conscious. And the most publicized application of Taylor's "Scientific Management" (though aborted by union pressure) was not in a business but in the government-owned andgovernment-run Watertown Arsenal of the U.S. Army.The first job to which the term "Manager" in its present meaning was applied was not in business. It was the City Manager -- an American invention of the early years of the century. The first conscious and systematic application of "management principles" similarly was not in a business. It was the reorganization of the U.S. Army in 1901 by Elihu Root (1845-1937), Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of War.The first Management Congress -- Prague in 1922 -- was not organized by business people but by Herbert Hoover, then U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and Thomas Masaryk, a world-famous historian and the founding President of the new Czechoslovak Republic. And Mary Parker Follett, whose work on Management began at roughly the same time, never differentiated between business management and nonbusiness management. She talked of the management of organizations, to all of which the same principles applied.What led to the identification of Management with Business Management was the Great Depression with its hostility to business and its contempt for business executives. In order not to be tarred with the business brush, management in the public sector was rechristened "Public Administration" and proclaimed a separate discipline -- with its own university departments, its own terminology, its own career ladder. At the same time -- and for the same reason -- what had begun as a study of management in the rapidly growing hospital (e.g., by Raymond Sloan, the younger brother of GM's Alfred Sloan) was split off as a separate discipline and christened "Hospital Administration."Not to be called "management" was, in other words, "political correctness" in theDepression years.In the postwar period, however, the fashion turned. By 1950 BUSINESS had become a "good word" -- largely the result of the performance during World War II of American "business management. And then very soon "business management" became "politically correct" as a field of study, above all. And ever since, management has remained identified in the public mind as well as in academia with "business management."Now, however, we are beginning to unmake this sixty-year-old mistake -- as witness the renaming of so many "business schools" into "schools of management," the rapidly growing offerings in "nonprofit management" by these schools, the emergence of "executive management programs" recruiting both business and nonbusiness executives or the emergence of Departments of "Pastoral Management" in divinity schools.But the assumption that Management is Business Management still persists. It is therefore important to assert -- and to do so loudly -- that Management is NOT Business Management -- any more than, say, Medicine is Obstetrics.There are, of course, differences in management between different organizations -- Mission defines Strategy, after all, and Strategy defines Structure. There surely are differences between managing a chain of retail stores and managing a Catholic diocese (though amazingly fewer than either chain stores or bishops believe); between managing an air base, a hospital and a software company. But the greatest differences are in the terms individual organizations use. Otherwise the differences are mainly in application rather than in principles. There are not even tremendous differences in tasks and challenges. The executives of all these organizationsspend, for instance, about the same amount of their time on people problems -- and the people problems are almost always the same. Ninety percent or so of what each of these organizations is concerned with is generic. And the differences in respect to the last 10 percent are no greater between businesses and nonbusinesses than they are between businesses in different industries, for example, between a multinational bank and a toy manufacturer. In every organization -- business or nonbusiness alike -- only the last 10 percent of management has to be fitted to the organization's specific mission, its specific culture, its specific history and its specific vocabulary.That Management is not Business Management is particularly important as the growth sector of a "developed society in the 21st century is most unlikely to be business -- in fact, business has not even been the growth sector of the 20th century in developed societies. A far smaller proportion of the working population in every developed country is now engaged in economic activity, that is, in "business," than it was a hundred years ago. Then virtually everybody in the working population made his or her living in economic activities (e.g., farming). The growth sectors in the 20th century in developed countries have been in "nonbusiness" -- in government...
Synopsis
New and revolutionary ideas and perspectives on the central management issues of tomorrow by "the most important management thinker of our time" (Warren Bennis).
In his first major new book since Post-Capitalist Society Peter F. Drucker discusses the new paradigms of management -- how they have changed and will continue to change our basic assumptions about the practices and principles of management. Drucker analyzes the new realities of strategy, shows how to be a leader in periods of change, and explains "the New Information Revolution," discussing the information an executive needs and the information an executive owes. He also examines knowledge worker productivity, and shows that changes in the basic attitude of individuals and organizations as well as structural changes in work itself are needed for increased productivity. Finally, Drucker addresses the ultimate challenge of managing yourself while still meeting the demands on the individual during a longer working life and in an ever-changing workplace.
Incisive, challenging, and mind-stretching, Drucker's new book is forward-looking and forward thinking. It combines the broad knowledge, wide practical experience, profound insight, sharp analysis, and enlightened common sense that are the essence of Drucker's writings, which are continuing international bestsellers and "landmarks of the managerial profession" (Harvard Business Review).
"This is not a book of PREDICTIONS, not a book about the FUTURE. The challenges and issues discussed in it are already with us in every one of the developed countries and in most of the emerging ones (e.g., Korea or Turkey). They can already be identified, discussed, analyzed and prescribed for. Some people, someplace are already working on them. But so far very few organizations do, and very few executives. Those who do work on these challenges today, and thus prepare themselves and their institutions for the new challenges, will be the leaders and dominate tomorrow. Those who wait until these challenges have indeed become `hot' issues are likely to fall behind, perhaps never to recover.
This book is thus a Call for Action."-- From the Introduction
Synopsis
New and revolutionary ideas and perspectives on the central management issues of tomorrow by "the most important management thinker of our time" (Warren Bennis).
In his first major new book since Post-Capitalist SocietyPeter F. Drucker discusses the new paradigms of management -- how they have changed and will continue to change our basic assumptions about the practices and principles of management. Drucker analyzes the new realities of strategy, shows how to be a leader in periods of change, and explains "the New Information Revolution," discussing the information an executive needs and the information an executive owes. He also examines knowledge worker productivity, and shows that changes in the basic attitude of individuals and organizations as well as structural changes in work itself are needed for increased productivity. Finally, Drucker addresses the ultimate challenge of managing yourself while still meeting the demands on the individual during a longer working life and in an ever-changing workplace.
Incisive, challenging, and mind-stretching, Drucker's new book is forward-looking and forward thinking. It combines the broad knowledge, wide practical experience, profound insight, sharp analysis, and enlightened common sense that are the essence of Drucker's writings, which are continuing international bestsellers and "landmarks of the managerial profession" (Harvard Business Review).
"This is not a book of PREDICTIONS, not a book about the FUTURE. The challenges and issues discussed in it are already with us in every one of the developed countries and in most of the emerging ones (e.g., Korea or Turkey). They can already be identified, discussed, analyzed and prescribed for. Some people, someplace are already working on them. But so far very few organizations do, and very few executives. Those who do work on these challenges today, and thus prepare themselves and their institutions for the new challenges, will be the leaders and dominate tomorrow. Those who wait until these challenges have indeed become `hot' issues are likely to fall behind, perhaps never to recover.This book is thus a Call for Action."-- From the Introduction
Synopsis
A challenging, incisive, and mind-stretching new book on the major critical issues that management faces in the next century.
About the Author
White House Honors Drucker with Presidential Medal of Freedom
On June 21, Dr. Peter Drucker, author of
The Effective Executive and
Management Challenges for the 21st Century, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.
"Dr. Peter Drucker is the world's foremost pioneer of management theory. Dr. Drucker has championed concepts such as privatization, management by objective and decentralization. He has served as a consultant to numerous governments, public service institutions and major corporations. Dr. Drucker is a Professor of Social Sciences and Management at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, which named its Graduate School of Management after him. He helped establish and continues to serve as the Honorary Chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management in New York City, which awards the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation. He is currently applying his expertise to the management of churches and other faith-based institutions and to the reorganization of universities worldwide." - White House Web site
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation's highest civilian honor. It was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize civilians for their service during World War II, and it was reinstated by President Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished service.
Also among the honorees were Hank Aaron, Bill Cosby, Placido Domingo, Katharine Graham, Nancy Reagan, and A.M. Rosenthal.
Peter F. Drucker was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909. Educated in Austria and in England, Mr. Drucker holds a doctorate in Public and International Law from Frankfurt University in Germany. He also has received honorary doctorates from American, Belgian, Czech, English, Japanese, Spanish and Swiss universities. Since 1971, Mr. Drucker has been Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, which named its Graduate Management Center after him in 1987.
In addition to teaching, Mr. Drucker currently acts as a consultant, specializing in strategy and policy for both businesses and nonprofits, and in the work and organization of top management. He has worked with many of the world's largest corporations and with small and entrepreneurial companies; with nonprofits such as universities, hospitals and community services; and with agencies of the U.S. Government as well as with Free-World governments such as those of Canada and Japan. In the past, Mr. Drucker has variously been economist for an international bank in London; American economist for a group of British and European banks and investment trusts; and American correspondent for a group of British newspapers.
From 1950 to 1971, Mr. Drucker was Professor of Management at the Graduate Business School of New York University which awarded him the university s highest honor, the Presidential Citation in 1969. From 1979 to 1985, he also served as Professorial Lecturer in Oriental Art at Pomona College, one of the Claremont Colleges. He also acted as Professor of Politics and Philosophy at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont.
A prolific writer on subjects relating to society, economics, politics and management, Mr. Drucker has published 30 books which have been translated into more than twenty languages. In addition to his writings on management and economics, he has written an autobiographical book entitled, Adventures of a Bystander, and co-authored Adventures of the Brush; Japanese Paintings. Mr. Drucker has made several series of educational movies based on his management books, and he was an editorial columnist for the Wall Street Journal from 1975 to 1995, and serves as a frequent contributor to magazines.
Mr. Drucker is married and has four children and six grandchildren.
Table of Contents
Management's new paradigms -- Strategy--the new certainties -- The change leader -- Information challenges -- Knowledge-worker productivity -- Managing oneself.