Critically dscuss the importance of historical perspectives on management thought.

Please use tangible examples from your reading and personal experience to illustrate and support your arguments.

Management is as old as time. However it was only in the 19th century that management and the idea of management thought emerged as an important element of political, economic and social development. I believe that histoircal perspectives have been critically important to the development of managemnt thought through the centuries. Management ideas have been developed out of social and cultural circumstances, over time the social and culutral circumstances have radically changed and developed but the principle of managemeny and management thought has not kept up with these devlpoments. From my reading, I would argue that there have been three main aspects that have fundamentaly shaped management thought since ancient times. These aspects are; autocratic management, the change in society and management thought following the reformation and thirdly, the new work practices required to support the industrial revoultion. From my research, it is evident that major historical events have also had an important role to play in the development of different management styles and structures. In ancient times, management of people was purely autocratic. Many of the work force in these times were slaves. This early practise of management seen in ancient Egypt continued through to feudal times. It was very effective in supporting some of the great consrtuction projects which ancient Egypt is famous for, such as building the pryamids, the irragation of the Nile and building of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Similarly in ancient China with the building of

the Great Wall of China. These great works provide us with evidence of a very orgainsed approach to the use of labour and also project management skills . This early autocratic period of management was heavily dominated by cultural values such as fear of punishment , fear of god and where people had no sense of indiviual achievement and they could only look forward to a better life after death. This form of management continued through the middle ages and in these non-industralised circumstances there was no no need to develop a formal body of management thought(Wren & Bedeian, 2011: 37) As long as society was dominated by fear and oppresion this form of management was sustained. As long as christianity and the divine right of kings maintained their hold on society, management thought could not evolve and develop. These feudal times where relgion was invincible and demanded total subserviance were coming to an end. The crusades were the major cataylst for change in these times and by weakening the strength of the catholic church were the beginning of the cultural rebirth which led to the protestant reformation. With the reformation came the protestant work ethic that I would argue has transcended history and has fundamentally changed work practises and has opened the door to completely differenct and new management styles and structures. Prior to this commerce was viewed as an evil that corrupted peoples minds and the idea of trade could undermine the obedience demanded by the catholic church. Max Weber in the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism urges strongly that the spirit of capitalism grew out of protestantism and the protestatism work ethic. (Wren & Bedeian, 2011: 26) It is clear that the transformation in attitudes in society due to the reformation brought with it the need for new management structrues which would support creativity and compettitiveness. These

changes did not happen quickly, but they were pivitoal in the fundamental shift to the orgainsation of labour being managed by many people rather than the autocratic few. These new managers began to think about personal gain and had to consider the best ways to achieve these gains. The shift to personal gain was accompanied by the strengthing of national econnomies in Europe and further afield as new countries were being disccovered. The scene was being set for the industrial revolution. Historical perspectives were changing and along with them, new prinicples in management thought were emerging. Adam Smith was one of the evangelistes of management thought during the early stages of the industrial revolution. Some of Smiths new thoughts on management were firstly that the market economy would be se self regulating, that is to say that the market would be ruled by the invisable hand(Wren & Bedeian, 2011: 34). His other contribution were his thoughts on the divison of labour cullminating in the great productivity brought by the use of technology to replace human man power. These principles are fundamental to modern management thought. The industrial revoultion brought with it the move form agryian life to urban living. Production became large scale and the ever expanding factoires demanded more managers who would have to be capable of succesfully orgainisng all aspects of this new working environemnt.this has reminaed a fundamental requirement of good management practise. There is no doubt that histoical perspectives have been important in bringing about great changes for the better in management thought as evidenced by the improvements in how people have been managed from ancient times. However I would conclude, that despite the advantages of

having historical perspectives, society and the management of society does not really learn from them. I think this is well summarised in Will Durants quote in the story of civilization part 1 where he states that a nation is born stoic and dies epicurean(Durant, 1935: 259) There is no clearer example of this than the country we live in today where we have spent centuries struggling against the autocratic management of irish society both from the catholic church and British rule. The adversity of these times was replaced by the development of new management structures bringing with them creativity and competiveness. With this came affluence and opportunism which in turn undermined the integrity of these management structures. Like the Epicureans, poor thought was given to how this would impact tomorrow. So as in Greece and Rome, the lack of long term prudent management thought has brought about economic decline in Ireland. Bibliography Durant, W. (1935) The story of Civilisation,Part 1:Our Oriental Hertiage. New York: Simon and Schuster. Guilln, M. (1994) Models of management: work, authority, and organization in a comparative perspective. USA: The University of Chicago Press. Wren, D. & Bedeian, A. (2011) The Evolution of Management Thought. USA: John Wiley & Sons.