Management Theory, Unequal Playing Field & Negro Leagues

8/9/2019 Management Theory, Unequal Playing Field & Negro Leagues

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PETERDRUCKER:

THE MAN WHO INVENTEDMANAGEMENT

LIS 404 Spring 2010


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WHY DRUCKER MATTERS

Wrote 39 books (translated into many languages)

Worked with major corporations (G&E, Proctor &

Gamble, Toyota, etc.) and non-profits (Salvation

Army, Girl Scouts of America, etc.)Wrote extensively about management practices

(especially regarding worker satisfaction &

retention) in non-profit sphere.

Coined term knowledge worker Has influenced many modern management

theorists.


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SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF DRUCKERS THEORIES

Management is a practice, not a science.

Knowledge work is where the economy is headed.

Respect for workers as individuals.

Ethics and values are part of successful businesses.

Customer service is the highest priority.


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MANAGEMENT IS A PRACTICE, NOT A SCIENCE.

Drucker was dismissive of scientific management,and of purely theoretical intuitive management

theories.

Management is apractice rather than a science or

aprofession, though containing elements of both. . .We know far too little to put management into the

straitjacket of a science... We do know a good

dealthough the areas of ignorance and searching

exceed the areas in which we have truly firm, truly

tested, knowledge, and the right answer.Management: Revised Edition pg 11.


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MANAGEMENT IS A PRACTICE NOT SCIENCE,

CONT

What is management?

y It is about human beings.

y It is deeply intertwined with the culture of where it is practiced.

y Organizations must have commitment to common goals and

have shared values which management reinforces.y Every organization is a place where learning and teaching

goes on. This is facilitated by managers.

y Employees must communicate and have personalresponsibility.

y The bottom line and amount of widgets produced are not

complete measures of the performance of management oremployees.

y Positive results only exist when a customer is satisfied.Management: Revised Edition, pg 23-24.


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KNOWLEDGEWORKERS

Drucker coined the term knowledge worker in

1959 in his book Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report

on the New Post-Modern World.

Knowledge workers own their own means ofproduction (information).

They are people with theoretical knowledge and

education.

They organize and synthesize information.


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TRAITS OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Borderlessness, because knowledge travels even

more effortlessly than money.

Upward mobility, available to everyone through

easily acquired formal education. The potential for failure as well as success. Anyone

can acquire the means of productionthat is, the

knowledge required for the jobbut not everyone

can win.

Management: Revised Edition, pg 37


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MANAGEMENT & KNOWLEDGEWORKERS

Drucker repeatedly used metaphor of conductor

and symphony.

The conductor needs to ensure all members of

symphony work together for maximum benefit. The conductor provides direction to skilled

musicians.

Musicians constantly work to improve their skills

and knowledge. Musicians have mobility. They own their means of

production (musical skill) and can leave at will.


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RESPECT FOR WORKERS

Because knowledge workers are highly mobile,

Drucker believed job satisfaction was key to

retaining them.

An organization has potential for greatness if everyemployee can answer yes to these questions:


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RESPECT FOR WORKERS

Because knowledge workers are highly mobile,

Drucker believed job satisfaction was key to

retaining them.

An organization has potential for greatness if everyemployee can answer yes to these questions:

y Are you treated every day with dignity and respect by

everyone you encounter?

y Are you given the things that you neededucation and

training and encouragement and supportso that youmake a contribution?

y Do people notice that you did it?

Definitive Drucker, pg 158


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IMPROVING KNOWLEDGEWORKER

PRODUCTIVITY

Define the task.

Focus on the task.

Define results.

Define quality.

Grant autonomy to the knowledge worker.

Demand accountability.

Build into tasks continuous learning and teaching.

Management: Revised Edition, pg 209


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ETHICS AND VALUES ARE PART OF

SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES

A healthy business, a healthy university, a healthy

hospital cannot exist in a sick society. Management

has a self-interest in a healthy society.Management: Revised Edition, pg 213

A man might. . . lack judgment and ability, and yetnot do too much damage as a manger. But if he

lacks in character and integrity. . . destroys. He

destroys people, the most valuable resource of the

enterprise. He destroys spirit. And he destroysperformance.

Management, Revised Edition, pg 287


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CUSTOMER SERVICE IS CRUCIAL TO SUCCESS

There is only one valid definition of business

purpose: to create a customer.Management: Revised edition, pg 98

It is the customer who determines what a businessis, what it produces and whether it will prosper.

Essential Drucker, pg 43

Creating customers is the result of marketing and

innovation.

A business should research who is, and who is not,

their customer to better target goods and services.


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PROBLEMS WITH DRUCKER:

THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD


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THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Drucker had some large blind spots in the areas of

gender and race.

Drucker believed that education eliminated all

biases/barriers and the workplace was a levelplaying field.

Drucker didnt consider how cultural and

institutional biases prevent accurate assessments

of performance and merit.

These blind spots remained intact through his

writing in the 1990s and 2000s.


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THERE IS NO SEXISM

Knowledge and knowledge jobs are equally

accessible to both sexes. As soon as there were a

substantial number of knowledge jobs, women

began to qualify for them, reach for them, and move

into them.

Managing in a Time of Great Change pg 281

The higher up the ladder we go in knowledge work,

the more likely it is that men and women are doing

the same work.



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THERE IS NO SEXISM, CONT

Drucker sees gender roles as only existing and

affecting people in the past.

Drucker manages to blame feminists for gender

based segregation in the work place. Drucker believes that in a knowledge economy,

there is no discrimination in employment. Everyone

is able to access education equally.

By not acknowledging sexism, and how it

negatively affects women, Drucker doesnt give

managers a way to address gender discrimination.


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DIDNT ADDRESS RACISM

In the forty years since WorldWar II, the economic

position of the Negro in America improved faster

than that of any group in American social history

or in the history of any country. Three-fifths of

Americas Blacks rose into middle-class incomes

before WWII the figure was one-twentieth.



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DIDNT ADDRESS RACISM, CONT

The economically rational thing to do for a young

Black in America from 1945 to 1980 was notto stay

in school and to learn. It was to leave school as

early as possible and to get one of the plentiful

mass production jobs. Black youngsterscould not

easily identify with cousins who were dentists,

accountants, lawyerswhich meant they were

twentyyears older and had sat in schools for at

least sixteen years.Managing in a Time of Great Change pg 227-228


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UNEVEN PLAYING FIELDS & BASEBALL


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Prior to 1947, no African Americans were allowed to

play in Major League baseball.


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Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947 joining

the Brooklyn Dodgers.


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Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947 joining

the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1959 the last segregated team,

the Boston Red Sox, hired a black

player. They had turned down

stellar black players such as

Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays.


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During the period of segregation, many MLB

records were set, some of which still stand.

Arguably, MLB records set prior to 1947 are not

entirely accurate because the records were not setby athletes playing against all the best

professionals. They were set by people playing

against all the best professional white players.


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QUESTIONS?


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Drucker, Peter (2008). Management: Revised

Edition. New York: HarperCollins.

Drucker, Peter (1995). Managing in a Time of Great

Change. New York: TrumanTally Books. Edersheim, Elizabeth Haas (2007). The Definitive

Drucker. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Information Outlook Staff (2002). The Icon Speaks:

An Interview with Peter Drucker. Information

Outlook6(2).

Documents

Management Theory, Unequal Playing Field & Negro Leagues