2. Say how management helped Ford found America’s largest corporation.

3. Ask 10 questions to the text. Unit 2. Foundation of Modern Management

1. Read text 1.

Text 1. The Birth of Management Ideas

Knowledge about management today can itself be considered to be the result of a long and continuing innovative process.

The actual practice of management can be traced back to early recorded history. In fact, ancient history contains a number of monumental examples of manage­ment in practice. For instance, the Sumerians ran ancient Mesopotamia with the help of temple corporations, communities in which priests and scribes kept track of legal and economic transactions through an elaborate system of records writ­ten on clay tablets. The Egyptians built an extensive irrigation system and major buildings, as well as the famous pyramids. Hammurabi developed a sophisti­cated legal system, the Code of 282 Laws, to help him rule Babylonia. The Ro­mans controlled their extensive empire through a carefully devised system of four geographic divisions, which were further subdivided into dioceses and then provinces. These achievements represent early examples of innovative practices in management.

While these management accomplishments were so significant that they are remembered today, they provided very limited information about how to actu­ally manage. For example, noted management consultant and writer Peter Drucker has argued that the best managers in history are the ones who managed the building of the pyramids. Although these managers had major time con­straints, limited transportation facilities, and few scientific resources, they still managed to build one of the great wonders of the world. Yet the Egyptians told us very little about their management methods. Thus there is a major difference between practicing management well and adding to knowledge about the field of management so that others also can learn to manage.

Although examples of management practice go back several thousand years, the development of management as a field of knowledge is much more recent. Much of the impetus for developing management theories and principles grew out of the industrial revolution, which spawned the growth of factories in the early 1800s. With the proliferation of factories came the widespread need to coordinate the efforts of large numbers of people in the continual production of goods.

The challenge posed by the factories brought forth a number of individuals who began to think in terms of innovative ways to run factories more effectively. This group, known as the pre-classical contributors to management, focused largely on particular techniques that might be applied to solve specific problems. They were followed by individuals who began to develop broader principles and theories that make up major viewpoints, or schools, of management: classical, behavioral, quantitative, and contemporary. Each of these major viewpoints encompasses several approaches that have contributed to the development of the particular viewpoint.