Fifty Years of Management—A Look Back and a Look Forward

Abstract

The decade which this report discusses, the decade of the Fifties, has been a time of fulfillment in management. It has also been a decade of conclusion for historical trends. Now we are ready for new beginnings. There has been management, the direction of people in joint effort, since time immemorial. But “managing” as a distinct kind of work, the “manager” as a distinct organ of and function in society, and “management” as a specific area of thought and study are very new. The history of management properly begins only fifty years ago.