Centrality of the Person in Management

Abstract

Peter F. Drucker is recognized as the father of modern management and as one of the most prolifi c and influential authors in his field. Of Austrian origin, he obtained his doctorate in International Law in Germany, and in his formative years worked in the banking sector as a journalist. Emigrating to the USA in 1937, he practiced as a teacher and business consultant, but it was his writing on politics and society in the early 1940s that opened the door of General Motors to him, and gave him the opportunity to study their administration control systems at first hand. This early work translated into his famous book The Concept of the Corporation (1946), which contained the seed of many concepts he would go on to develop in later articles and books. His attention was drawn to the frequent capacity of the workers to contribute more with their minds than with their hands, knowing more at times than even their superiors. This phenomenon, in stark contrast to the dominant view of the time that workers simply had to follow orders, led Drucker to his vision of management where the person is of greater importance.

Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant. This is what organization is all about, and it is the reason that management is the critical, determining factor.¹

PETER F. DRUCKER (1909–2005)