a century of management

Although humans have been involved with technology and commerce for over five millennia, the process of management has only been recognised as a stand-alone discipline for about a century. From Taylorism to transformation leadership, Wilf Altman steps back in time and gives us a guided tour of of the new kid on the commercial block. MOST PROFESSIONS, such as law, medicine, engineering, the Army and the Church, have long established traditions and disciplines. Management evolved later, in the 20th century, just over 100 years ago, the result of hands-on experience and the influence of practitioners, visionaries and thinkers, like F W Taylor, Henri Fayol, Peter Drucker and, later, Tom Peters. For many years, however, doubts remained about the role of managers and management.