General management: back to the future

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Warner, Malcolm^a | Witzel, Morgen^b

Affiliations: [a] Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK. Tel.: 01223 339591; Fax: 01223 339701; E-mail: m.warner@dial.pipex.com | [b] London Business School/Durham University Business School. Address: Price's Farmhouse, Leigh, Kent TN11 8HR, UK. Tel.: 01732 834386; Fax: 01732 834386; E-mail: morgen@wwblock.demon.co.uk

Abstract: This article examines the role and function of the general manager in the light of historical evidence which suggests that general management may be an integral part of the Western way of doing business. Although management as a discipline is relatively recent in origin, management as a function is probably as old as organised business itself. The paper suggests that the development of management as a function coincided with the rise of scientific thinking, leading to undue emphasis on scientific management; more recently the pendulum has swung back the other way, but there is a lack of consensus about both the nature of general management and the best way of developing general managers. The paper suggests that revisiting the principles of general mananagement as they developed historically can provide insights into the role and character of the general manager.

Keywords: General management, scientific management, industrial revolution, classical economics, managers, managerial revolution, scientific revolution, specialist managers

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1997-16404

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 263-276, 1997