However, some innovations, such as the spread of Arabic numerals (5th century to 65438+5th century) and the compilation of double-entry bookkeeping (1494), provide tools for management estimation, planning and control. Moses' Five Hebrews recorded a wealth of laws, which stipulated in detail all kinds of government affairs, human relations and sacrifices.
Before the industrial revolution, due to the limitation of business scale and the shortage of mechanized recording equipment, it is not surprising that business owners were solely responsible for the management of things themselves. However, when organizations become larger and more complex, it becomes more common for industrial owners (individuals, industrial dynasties or shareholder groups) to be separated from daily managers (independent planners, controllers and other professionals).
First, the early stage
Management has existed for thousands of years, and the literature written by many authors has become the cornerstone of contemporary management.
Some ancient military strategies provide reference materials for secular managers. For example, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, written by Sun Wu, a general in China in the 6th century BC, emphasizes knowing yourself and yourself and winning every battle.
In ancient times and the Middle Ages, many people wrote the book "The Mirror of the King" to advise the new king on how to govern the country. For example, On Politics written by Indian Kautilya (about 300 BC) and The Prince written by Italian writer Niccolò Machiavelli (about 15 15).
Second, the 19th century.
Classical economists such as Adam Smith and john stewart Mill provided theoretical basis for resource allocation, production and pricing strategies. At the same time, inventors such as eli whitney, james watt and matthew boulton developed production technology factors such as standardization, quality control, cost accounting, interchangeable parts and production planning.
Many of these management factors were applied in the slave-holding American economy 186 1 years ago. At that time, there were 4 million people in the society, which, in modern terms, was the "management" of quasi-mass production.
From 65438 to 0776, Adam Smith wrote the famous The Wealth of Nations, in which he mentioned how to improve the efficiency of organizational production through division of labor. Smith described how process improvement can improve the production efficiency of pins. At that time, a worker could produce 200 pins a day. Smith analyzed the production steps and divided the work among 65,438+00 people, which increased the efficiency of producing pins to 48,000 in one day.
The third and twentieth centuries
At the beginning of the 20th century, people found that managers began to make efforts to base their management theory on what they thought was a very sufficient scientific basis (please refer to scientism to understand the limitations of this view).
For example, Management Science 19 by Henry R. Tang in 1990s, Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor (19 1 1), Applied Action Research by Frank Gilbreth and Lillian Gilbreth (/kloc-0).
J Duncan wrote the first textbook of university management in 19 1 1. 19 12, Yoichi Ueno introduced Taylor doctrine to Japan and became the first management consultant with "Japanese management style". His son Ichiro Ueno is in charge of quality assurance in Japan.
The earliest comprehensive management theory appeared around the 1920s. Harvard Business School began to award the first batch of MBA degrees at 192 1. Henri fayol (184 1- 1925) and Alexander church described the different branches of management and their relationships.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Odway Tide (189 1- 1973), walter scott and James Mooney applied psychological principles to management, while other authors, such as Elton Mayo (1880-65438+).
Mary parker follett (1868- 1933), Chester Barnard (1886- 19 1), Max Weber (1864-199).
Peter drucker (1909-2005) wrote one of the earliest works of applied management: The Concept of Company (published in 1946). This book originated from a study commissioned by Alfred Si Long (chairman of General Motors, who stepped down in 1956). Drucker later wrote 39 books, many of which still followed the same idea.
H. Dodge, ronald fisher (1890- 1962) and Thornton C. Frye introduced statistical skills into management research. In the 1940s, patrick Blackett devoted himself to the development of applied mathematical science in operational research, initially for the purpose of carrying out military operations.
Operations research is sometimes called "management science" (but it is obviously different from Taylor's scientific management). It tries to solve decision-making problems by scientific methods, and can be directly applied to many management problems, especially logistics and operation.
With the widespread recognition of managers as a class in the 20th century, practitioners who made public appearances in the field of management art/science began to have some prestige, thus paving the way for a more popular management ideology to sell their views to the public. In this context, many popular management theories are more related to popular psychology than scientific management theories.
Recent developments include constraint theory, target management, reengineering, Six Sigma and various information technology-driven theories, such as agile software development, and team management theory, such as Cog's Ladder.
Fourth, 2 1 century
Observers in 2 1 century found it increasingly difficult to further divide management teams according to their functions. More and more processes need several function items at the same time. Therefore, people tend to think about management according to different processes, tasks and goals.
The branch theory of management has also been applied to non-profit organizations and governments, such as public management, public administration, education management and so on. Management further extends to the people, such as non-profit organization management, public welfare entrepreneurship and so on.
It is worth noting that many assumptions in management science have been attacked, such as criticism from business ethics, critical management research, anti-enterprise radical movement and so on.
As a result, labor democratization has become more common, and even spread to all levels of management in some places. However, these patterns have been produced before all political forms, and some of them are naturally formed, even before the emergence of the command class. All management accept some form of democracy to varying degrees-in fact, in the long run, management must be supported by most employees to operate.
Otherwise, employees will either leave their jobs to find other jobs or organize strikes and protests. Although the management trend is towards democracy, the command and control structure is still the de facto organizational form. An example of this deep-rooted command and control structure is that the recent mass layoffs have not had much impact on management. In some cases, the management increased their bonuses when they fired the grass-roots employees.
Manfred Katz, a well-known scholar, believes that all top management teams are inevitably affected by personality disorder to some extent.
The essence of management
In for-profit organizations, the main function of management is to serve shareholders. The typical activity is to make a profit (for shareholders), create products with reasonable price and rich value (for consumers), and provide job opportunities for employees.
In non-profit organizations, management should safeguard the wishes of donors. In most management or governance processes, shareholders elect the board of directors, and the board of directors appoints senior management. A few organizations even use other methods (such as employee election) to participate in the appointment of managers.
In the public sector, the main form of management is representative democracy, and politicians get public office through elections.