Drucker’s Lost Art of Management: Peter Drucker’s Timeless Vision for Building Effective Organizations


Book Description

For Drucker, management was a moral force, not merely a tool at the service of the amoral market . . . "Maciariello and Linkletter provide a very thoughtful and challenging journey in understanding Drucker's profound insights into the meaning of management as a liberal art." —C. William Pollard, Chairman Emeritus, The ServiceMaster Company "Linkletter and Maciariello have done a masterful job in bringing into focus the connections between Drucker's visions of management as a liberal art, of leadership dominated by integrity, high moral values, a focus on developing people, an emphasis on performance and results, and on balancing stability and continuity vs. the discontinuities created by change." —Kenneth G. Wilson, Nobel Laureate in Physics 1982, 20-year disciple of Drucker's writings "Maciariello and Linkletter provide a must-read for a new class of managers and academics who see beyond the bottom line." —David W. Miller, Ph.D., Director Princeton Faith & Work Initiative and Associate Research Scholar, Princeton University, and President, The Avodah Institute About the Book: While corporate malfeasance was once considered the exception, the American public is increasingly viewing unethical, immoral, and even criminal business behavior as the norm. According to the authors of Drucker's Lost Art of Management, there is some truth behind this new perception. Business management has lost its bearings, and the authors look to Peter Drucker’s vision of management as a liberal art to steer business back on course. Recognized as the world's leading Drucker scholar, Joseph Maciariello, along with fellow Drucker scholar Karen Linkletter, provides a blueprint for making corporate American management more functional and redeeming its reputation. Throughout his career, Peter Drucker made clear connections between the liberal arts and effective management, but he passed away before providing a detailed exposition of his ideas. Maciariello and Linkletter integrate their Drucker expertise in management and the liberal arts to finally define management as a liberal art and fulfill Drucker's vision. In Drucker's Lost Art of Management, Maciariello and Linkletter examine Drucker's contention that managers must concern themselves with the foundational concepts of political science, history, economic theory, and other liberal arts, such as: Societal values and standards The use and abuse of power Individual character development Innovation and technology The nature of good and evil The role managers play in a healthy society The authors create a new philosophy of management based on the principles leaders throughout history have relied on to be effective both individually and as custodians of civilized society and healthy economies. Our future executives, professionals, managers, and entrepreneurs are on track to learning (and perpetuating) the idea that only the bottom line matters in business--a concept that benefits no one in the end. It's up to us to instill the ageless verities that make for good management, good society, and good business results. A passionate call for radical change in today's management practices, Drucker's Lost Art of Management provides the ideas, concepts, and practical advice to make that change happen before it's too late.




Peter F. Drucker on Management Essentials


Book Description

Classic Advice for Today's Management Challenges Peter F. Drucker's timeless thinking on management--distilled in this series of concise essays--examines the basic questions and issues that managers face. In rapidly changing times, Drucker's legendary wisdom is even more vitally relevant, going beyond traditional thinking to insights of enduring value. The ideas and themes of this easy-to-read guide are based on direct experience and knowledge from Drucker's years as adviser to large corporations, entrepreneurial start-ups, government and nonprofit agencies, and public institutions. They are eminently practical and resonate profoundly with the challenges managers face today. Drucker offers insight and advice on perennial management issues such as: people decisions resource allocation productivity challenges innovation and risk management and other essential management topics Filled with classic, evergreen advice--"There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer"--Peter F. Drucker on Management Essentials is widely regarded as the "gold standard" for managers. Notable Quotes from Peter F. Drucker: "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." "The best way to predict the future is to create it." "Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed." "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." "Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision." "Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes." "The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity."




Peter Drucker and Management


Book Description

Peter Drucker is arguably the world’s most influential management writer, but his contributions as a social theorist and philosopher are also notable. This book presents Drucker as a key thinker, whose work encompasses ideas beyond management practice. Illuminating Drucker as a complex figure, this book highlights how his work draws upon, impacts, and intersects fields such as technology, sociology, philosophy, and theology. The book presents and contextualizes Drucker as an important historical figure, whose work resonates in a contemporary world where moderation between extremes is an essential ingredient in interpreting and navigating complex events and processes. Combining deep insights into Peter Drucker’s life and work, this unique book is valuable reading for scholars, students, and reflective practitioners of management as well as those with an interest in intellectual history more broadly.




Encyclopedia of Management Theory


Book Description

In discussing a management topic, scholars, educators, practitioners, and the media often toss out the name of a theorist (Taylor, Simon, Weber) or make a sideways reference to a particular theory (bureaucracy, total quality management, groupthink) and move on, as if assuming their audience possesses the necessary background to appreciate and integrate the reference. This is often far from the case. Individuals are frequently forced to seek out a hodgepodge of sources varying in quality and presentation to provide an overview of a particular idea. This work is designed to serve as a core reference for anyone interested in the essentials of contemporary management theory. Drawing together a team of international scholars, it examines the global landscape of the key theories and the theorists behind them, presenting them in the context needed to understand their strengths and weaknesses to thoughtfully apply them. In addition to interpretations of long-established theories, it also offers essays on cutting-edge research as one might find in a handbook. And, like an unabridged dictionary, it provides concise, to-the-point definitions of key concepts, ideas, schools, and figures. Features and Benefits: Two volumes containing over 280 signed entries provide users with the most authoritative and thorough reference resources available on management theory, both in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. Standardized presentation format, organized into categories based on validity and importance, structures entries so that readers can assess the fundamentals, evolution, and impact of theories. To ease navigation between and among related entries, a Reader’s Guide groups entries thematically and each entry is followed by Cross-References. In the electronic version, the Reader’s Guide combines with the Cross-References and a detailed Index to provide robust search-and-browse capabilities. An appendix with a Chronology of Management Theory allows readers to easily chart directions and trends in thought and theory from early times to the present. An appendix with Central Management Insights allows readers to easily understand, compare, and apply major theoretical messages of the field. Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each entry guide readers to sources for more detailed research and discussion. Key themes include: Nature of Management Managing People, Personality, and Perception Managing Motivation Managing Interactions Managing Groups Managing Organizations Managing Environments Strategic Management Human Resources Management International Management and Diversity Managerial Decision Making, Ethics, and Creativity Management Education, Research, and Consulting Management of Operations, Quality, and Information Systems Management of Entrepreneurship Management of Learning and Change Management of Technology and Innovation Management and Leadership Management and Social / Environmental Issues PLUS: Appendix of Chronology of Management Theory PLUS: Appendix of Central Management Insights




The Effective Executive


Book Description

A handsome, commemorative edition of Peter F. Drucker’s timeless classic work on leadership and management, with a foreword by Jim Collins. What makes an effective executive? For decades, Peter F. Drucker was widely regarded as "the dean of this country’s business and management philosophers" (Wall Street Journal). In this concise and brilliant work, he looks to the most influential position in management—the executive. The measure of the executive, Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results. Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can—and must—be mastered: Managing time; Choosing what to contribute to the organization; Knowing where and how to mobilize strength for best effect; Setting the right priorities; Knitting all of them together with effective decision-making Ranging across the annals of business and government, Drucker demonstrates the distinctive skill of the executive and offers fresh insights into old and seemingly obvious business situations.




The Oxford Handbook of Management


Book Description

Management, the pursuit of objectives through the organization and co-ordination of people, has been and is a core feature-and function-of modern society. Some 'classic' forms of corporate and bureaucratic management may be seen as the prevalent form of organization and organizing in the 20th century, but in the post-Fordist, global, knowledge-driven contemporary world we are seeing different patterns, principles, and styles of management as old models are questioned. The functions, ideologies, practices, and theories of management have changed over time, as recorded by many scholars, and may vary according to different models of organization, and between different cultures and societies. Whilst the administrative, corporate, or factory manager may be a figure on the wane, management as an ethos, organizing principle, culture, and field of academic teaching and research has increased dramatically in the last half century, and spread throughout the world. The purpose of this Handbook is to analyse and explore the evolution of management; the core functions and how they may have changed; its position in the culture/zeitgeist of modern society; the institutions and ideologies that support it; and likely challenges and changes in the future. This book looks at what management is, and how this may change over time. It provides an overview of management - its history, development, context, changing function in organization and society, key elements and functions, and contemporary and future challenges.




Drucker on Leadership


Book Description

Although Peter Drucker, “The Father of Modern Management,” died in 2005, his timeless teachings are studied and practiced by forward-thinking managers worldwide. His lessons and wisdom on the topic of leadership—the central element of management—are in constant demand, yet he wrote little under that actual subject heading. In Drucker on Leadership, William A. Cohen explores Drucker’s lost leadership lessons—why they are missing, what they are, why they are important, and how to apply them. As Cohen explains, Drucker was ambivalent about leadership for much of his career, making it clear that leadership was not by itself “good or desirable.” While Drucker struggled with the concept of leadership, he was well aware that it had a critical impact on the accomplishment of all projects and human endeavors. There is no book from Drucker specifically dedicated to leadership, but a wealth of information about leadership can be found scattered throughout his 40 books and hundreds of articles. Drucker’s teachings about leadership have saved many corporations from failure and helped guide others to outstanding success. Many of the leadership concepts revealed in this book will surprise and perhaps shock Drucker’s followers. For example, who would have thought that Peter Drucker taught that “leadership is a marketing job” or that “the best leadership lessons for business or any nonprofit organization come from the military”? Written for anyone who values the insights of the man whose name is synonymous with excellence in management, Drucker on Leadership offers a deeper understanding of what makes an extraordinary leader.




The Effective Executive


Book Description

The measure of the executive, Peter Drucker reminds us, is the ability to `get the right things done'. Usually this involves doing what other people have overlooked, as well as avoiding what is unproductive. He identifies five talents as essential to effectiveness, and these can be learned; in fact, they must be learned just as scales must be mastered by every piano student regardless of his natural gifts. Intelligence, imagination and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that convert these into results. One of the talents is the management of time. Another is choosing what to contribute to the particular organization. A third is knowing where and how to apply your strength to best effect. Fourth is setting up the right priorities. And all of them must be knitted together by effective decision-making. How these can be developed forms the main body of the book. The author ranges widely through the annals of business and government to demonstrated the distinctive skill of the executive. He turns familiar experience upside down to see it in new perspective. The book is full of surprises, with its fresh insights into old and seemingly trite situations. Written by one of the world's leading management gurusWritten by one of the world's leading management gurus




People and Performance


Book Description

What is management? What is a manager? How is a business organized, and how can managers use people's strengths more effectively? What is the relationship between management today and the society and culture it seeks to direct? These and many more questions are discussed in Peter Drucker's classic survey of management thought and practice. People and Performance is the ideal volume for those who want the essence of Drucker's thinking, but with limited time at their disposal. It spans all the main dimensions of management and its themes are based on Drucker's direct experience as an adviser to businesses, government departments, public institutions, and as a widely sought lecturer.




Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions


Book Description

Enduring Management Wisdom for Today's Leaders From Peter F. Drucker. Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions provides insightful guidance and stirring inspiration for today's leaders and entrepreneurs. By applying Drucker's leadership framework in the present context of today's leaders and those who lead with them, this book is an essential resource for people leading, managing and working in all three sectors—public, private and social. Readers will gain new perspectives and develop a solid foundation upon which to build a successful and bright future. They will learn how to focus on why they are doing what they're doing, how to do it better, and how to develop a realistic, motivational plan for achieving their goals. This brief, clear, and accessible guide — peppered with commentary from distinguished management gurus, contemporary entrepreneurs and dynamic millennial leaders —will challenge readers and stimulate spirited discussion and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence. In addition to contributions from Jim Collins, Marshall Goldsmith, and Judith Rodin, the book features new insights from some of today's most influential leaders in business (GE and Salesforce.com), academia (Harvard Business School and Northwestern University), social enterprise (Levo League, Pencils of Promise and Why Millennials Matter) and the military (United States Military Academy), who have been directly influenced by Drucker's theory of management.