Management Innovators The People and Ideas that Have Shaped Modern Business

by Wren, Daniel A.; Greenwood, Ronald G.

• ISBN13: 9780195117059
• ISBN10: 0195117050
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-04-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Here is a who's who of business, thirty-one profiles of inventors, financiers, organizers, motivators, and gurus--a vivid, informative look at the history of management as seen through the lives of its most influential figures. We meet Eli Whitney, creator of the cotton gin and father of the machine tool industry, who failed to profit from his genius; Thomas Edison, who once vowed he would never invent anything he couldn't sell; and Andrew Carnegie, who applied the railroad management system to the steel industry, with spectacular results. There are profiles of such railroad giants as James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman, and colorful portraits of Samuel Morse and Graham Bell, the two men who launched the communications industry in the U.S. The great innovators of management and organization are here as well, including the founders of systematic management, Frederick W. Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. There's an intriguing side-by-side look at William C. Durant, builder of General Motors, a visionary but a weak manager and organizer, and Alfred P. Sloan, who gave GM the structure it needed, and provided the model for all large, multiproduct firms to come. And there are thought-provoking profiles of motivational experts Elton Mayo and Abraham Maslow; quality advocates W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Moses Juran; Taiichi Ohno, inventor of just-in-time manufacturing; and finally, Peter Drucker, the most influential management thinker of our time. This is the distilled essence of management genius, a stimulating and, at times, inspiring look at the pioneers who shaped how we do business today.

Author Biography

Daniel A. Wren is David Ross Boyd Professor of Management at the University of Oklahoma and the Curator of the Harry W. Bass Business History Collection. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma. Ronald G. Greenwood, now deceased, was a widely published author on management and business history.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: A Revolution in Industry	3	(6)
I. BUILDING AMERICAN BUSINESS ENTERPRISE	9	(124)
1. Inventors	9	(16)
Eli Whitney	10	(6)
Thomas Alva Edison	16	(9)
2. Makers	25	(25)
Cyrus H. McCormick	25	(8)
Andrew Carnegie	33	(8)
Henry Ford	41	(9)
3. Sellers	50	(19)
Alexander T. Stewart	51	(7)
Richard W. Sears	58	(11)
4. Movers	69	(21)
James J. Hill	72	(6)
Edward H. Harriman	78	(12)
5. Communicators	90	(15)
Samuel Finley Breese Morse	91	(3)
Ezra Cornell	94	(4)
Alexander Graham Bell	98	(7)
6. Financiers	105	(28)
Jay Gould	107	(13)
J. Pierpont Morgan	120	(13)
II. ORGANIZING AND MANAGING THE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE	133	(104)
7. Working Smarter	133	(22)
Frederick W. Taylor	134	(6)
Lillian and Frank Gilbreth	140	(8)
Yoichi Ueno	148	(7)
8. Organizers	155	(15)
William C. Durant	156	(2)
Alfred P. Sloan Jr.	158	(5)
Chester I. Barnard	163	(7)
9. Motivators	170	(20)
Elton Mayo	171	(6)
Abraham H. Maslow	177	(5)
Frederick Herzberg	182	(8)
10. Leaders	190	(14)
Nicolo Machiavelli	191	(3)
Mary Parker Follett	194	(4)
Douglas M. McGregor	198	(6)
11. Quality Seekers	204	(22)
W. Edwards Deming	204	(9)
Joseph Moses Juran	213	(5)
Taiichi Ohno	218	(8)
12. Guru	226	(11)
Peter F. Drucker	226	(11)
Notes	237	(12)
Index	249