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Principles of Management

3.1 The Early Origins of Management

Principles of Management3.1 The Early Origins of Management

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Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Managing and Performing
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 What Do Managers Do?
    3. 1.2 The Roles Managers Play
    4. 1.3 Major Characteristics of the Manager's Job
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    7. Chapter Review Questions
    8. Management Skills Application Exercises
    9. Managerial Decision Exercises
    10. Critical Thinking Case
  3. 2 Managerial Decision-Making
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 Overview of Managerial Decision-Making
    3. 2.2 How the Brain Processes Information to Make Decisions: Reflective and Reactive Systems
    4. 2.3 Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions
    5. 2.4 Barriers to Effective Decision-Making
    6. 2.5 Improving the Quality of Decision-Making
    7. 2.6 Group Decision-Making
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  4. 3 The History of Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 The Early Origins of Management
    3. 3.2 The Italian Renaissance
    4. 3.3 The Industrial Revolution
    5. 3.4 Taylor-Made Management
    6. 3.5 Administrative and Bureaucratic Management
    7. 3.6 Human Relations Movement
    8. 3.7 Contingency and System Management
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
  5. 4 External and Internal Organizational Environments and Corporate Culture
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 The Organization's External Environment
    3. 4.2 External Environments and Industries
    4. 4.3 Organizational Designs and Structures
    5. 4.4 The Internal Organization and External Environments
    6. 4.5 Corporate Cultures
    7. 4.6 Organizing for Change in the 21st Century
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  6. 5 Ethics, Corporate Responsibility, and Sustainability
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Ethics and Business Ethics Defined
    3. 5.2 Dimensions of Ethics: The Individual Level
    4. 5.3 Ethical Principles and Responsible Decision-Making
    5. 5.4 Leadership: Ethics at the Organizational Level
    6. 5.5 Ethics, Corporate Culture, and Compliance
    7. 5.6 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
    8. 5.7 Ethics around the Globe
    9. 5.8 Emerging Trends in Ethics, CSR, and Compliance
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    12. Chapter Review Questions
    13. Management Skills Application Exercises
    14. Managerial Decision Exercises
    15. Critical Thinking Case
  7. 6 International Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 Importance of International Management
    3. 6.2 Hofstede's Cultural Framework
    4. 6.3 The GLOBE Framework
    5. 6.4 Cultural Stereotyping and Social Institutions
    6. 6.5 Cross-Cultural Assignments
    7. 6.6 Strategies for Expanding Globally
    8. 6.7 The Necessity of Global Markets
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  8. 7 Entrepreneurship
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 Entrepreneurship
    3. 7.2 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
    4. 7.3 Small Business
    5. 7.4 Start Your Own Business
    6. 7.5 Managing a Small Business
    7. 7.6 The Large Impact of Small Business
    8. 7.7 The Small Business Administration
    9. 7.8 Trends in Entrepreneurship and Small-Business Ownership
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    12. Chapter Review Questions
    13. Management Skills Application Exercises
    14. Managerial Decision Exercises
    15. Critical Thinking Case
  9. 8 Strategic Analysis: Understanding a Firm’s Competitive Environment
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 Gaining Advantages by Understanding the Competitive Environment
    3. 8.2 Using SWOT for Strategic Analysis
    4. 8.3 A Firm's External Macro Environment: PESTEL
    5. 8.4 A Firm's Micro Environment: Porter's Five Forces
    6. 8.5 The Internal Environment
    7. 8.6 Competition, Strategy, and Competitive Advantage
    8. 8.7 Strategic Positioning
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  10. 9 The Strategic Management Process: Achieving and Sustaining Competitive Advantage
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 Strategic Management
    3. 9.2 Firm Vision and Mission
    4. 9.3 The Role of Strategic Analysis in Formulating a Strategy
    5. 9.4 Strategic Objectives and Levels of Strategy
    6. 9.5 Planning Firm Actions to Implement Strategies
    7. 9.6 Measuring and Evaluating Strategic Performance
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  11. 10 Organizational Structure and Change
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 Organizational Structures and Design
    3. 10.2 Organizational Change
    4. 10.3 Managing Change
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    7. Chapter Review Questions
    8. Management Skills Application Exercises
    9. Managerial Decision Exercises
    10. Critical Thinking Case
  12. 11 Human Resource Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 An Introduction to Human Resource Management
    3. 11.2 Human Resource Management and Compliance
    4. 11.3 Performance Management
    5. 11.4 Influencing Employee Performance and Motivation
    6. 11.5 Building an Organization for the Future
    7. 11.6 Talent Development and Succession Planning
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  13. 12 Diversity in Organizations
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 An Introduction to Workplace Diversity
    3. 12.2 Diversity and the Workforce
    4. 12.3 Diversity and Its Impact on Companies
    5. 12.4 Challenges of Diversity
    6. 12.5 Key Diversity Theories
    7. 12.6 Benefits and Challenges of Workplace Diversity
    8. 12.7 Recommendations for Managing Diversity
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  14. 13 Leadership
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1 The Nature of Leadership
    3. 13.2 The Leadership Process
    4. 13.3 Leader Emergence
    5. 13.4 The Trait Approach to Leadership
    6. 13.5 Behavioral Approaches to Leadership
    7. 13.6 Situational (Contingency) Approaches to Leadership
    8. 13.7 Substitutes for and Neutralizers of Leadership
    9. 13.8 Transformational, Visionary, and Charismatic Leadership
    10. 13.9 Leadership Needs in the 21st Century
    11. Key Terms
    12. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    13. Chapter Review Questions
    14. Management Skills Application Exercises
    15. Managerial Decision Exercises
    16. Critical Thinking Case
  15. 14 Work Motivation for Performance
    1. Introduction
    2. 14.1 Motivation: Direction and Intensity
    3. 14.2 Content Theories of Motivation
    4. 14.3 Process Theories of Motivation
    5. 14.4 Recent Research on Motivation Theories
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    8. Chapter Review Questions
    9. Management Skills Application Exercises
    10. Managerial Decision Exercises
    11. Critical Thinking Case
  16. 15 Managing Teams
    1. Introduction
    2. 15.1 Teamwork in the Workplace
    3. 15.2 Team Development Over Time
    4. 15.3 Things to Consider When Managing Teams
    5. 15.4 Opportunities and Challenges to Team Building
    6. 15.5 Team Diversity
    7. 15.6 Multicultural Teams
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  17. 16 Managerial Communication
    1. Introduction
    2. 16.1 The Process of Managerial Communication
    3. 16.2 Types of Communications in Organizations
    4. 16.3 Factors Affecting Communications and the Roles of Managers
    5. 16.4 Managerial Communication and Corporate Reputation
    6. 16.5 The Major Channels of Management Communication Are Talking, Listening, Reading, and Writing
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    9. Chapter Review Questions
    10. Management Skills Application Exercises
    11. Managerial Decision Exercises
    12. Critical Thinking Case
  18. 17 Organizational Planning and Controlling
    1. Introduction
    2. 17.1 Is Planning Important
    3. 17.2 The Planning Process
    4. 17.3 Types of Plans
    5. 17.4 Goals or Outcome Statements
    6. 17.5 Formal Organizational Planning in Practice
    7. 17.6 Employees' Responses to Planning
    8. 17.7 Management by Objectives: A Planning and Control Technique
    9. 17.8 The Control- and Involvement-Oriented Approaches to Planning and Controlling
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    12. Chapter Review Questions
    13. Management Skills Application Exercises
    14. Managerial Decision Exercises
    15. Critical Thinking Case
  19. 18 Management of Technology and Innovation
    1. Introduction
    2. 18.1 MTI—Its Importance Now and In the Future
    3. 18.2 Developing Technology and Innovation
    4. 18.3 External Sources of Technology and Innovation
    5. 18.4 Internal Sources of Technology and Innovation
    6. 18.5 Management Entrepreneurship Skills for Technology and Innovation
    7. 18.6 Skills Needed for MTI
    8. 18.7 Managing Now for Future Technology and Innovation
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  20. References
  21. Index
  1. Describe management in the ancient world.

Table 3.1 traces the development of management thought from the ancient world until the 19th century’s Industrial Revolution.

Sumer, located in what is today southern Iraq and the first urban-based civilization, contained the genesis of management. Sumer had a flourishing merchant culture in which goods such as grains, livestock, perfumes, and pottery were sold to customers. Rather than bartering (using one good or service, not money, to pay for another good or service), the ancient Sumerians used ancient clay coins to pay. The sizes and shapes of coins represented different amounts of currency and signaled the types of goods for which they could be exchanged.3

What made this level of trade and economic activity possible? The introduction of writing made it possible for merchants to keep track of various trades. And the development of a basic form of coins allowed for increased trade because a person wanting to obtain a good or service no longer had to find another person who wanted exactly the good or service he produced. Coordinating the activities of those who provided goods and those who wanted to purchase them often required coordination, one of the main functions of a manager.

Early Contributor Outcome
Sumerians Writing and trade
Hammurabi Written commands and controls
Nebuchadnezzar Incentives
Ancient Egyptians Division of labor, coordination and span of control
Sun Tzu Division of labor, communication and coordination
Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) Development of bureaucracy
Ancient Greeks Division of labor
Romans Standardization
Italians Accounting, corporations, multinational corporations
John Florio Management to English language
Source: Adapted from George (1972) and Wren & Bedeian (2009)
Table 3.1 (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC-BY 4.0 license)

Two additional contributions to the early development of management came from the Middle East. The idea of written laws and commands comes from the Babylonian king Hammurabi (1810 BC–1750 BC).4 The Code of Hammurabi was a listing of 282 laws that regulated a wide variety of behaviors, including business dealings, personal behavior, interpersonal relations, and punishments. Law 104 was one of the first instances of accounting and of the need for formal rules for managers and owners. The code also set wages for doctors, bricklayers, stonemasons, boatmen, herdsmen, and other labors. The code did not, however, include the concept of incentive wages because it set wages at a fixed amount. The idea of incentives would come from another, much later, Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar (605 BC–c. 562 BC),5 who gave incentives to cloth weavers for production. Weavers were paid in food, and the more cloth they produced, the more food they were given.

A photo shows a close-up view of the Code of Hammurabi carved into a basalt stele in the Akkadian language, using a cuneiform script.
Exhibit 3.3 Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved ancient law code, created between 1810 BC and 1750 BC in ancient Babylon. It's a listing of 282 laws that regulated conduct on a wide variety of behaviors, including business dealings, personal behavior, interpersonal relations, and punishments. Law 104 was one of the first instances of accounting and the need for formal rules for owners and managers. (Gabrielle Barni / flickr/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

The ancient Egyptians made great strides in the building of the great pyramids. The ancient Egyptians were exceptional builders of canals, irrigation projects, and the pyramids, royal tombs whose size and complexity exceeded what the Greeks and Romans6 were able to build in later centuries. Although we are still uncertain about exactly how the pyramids were constructed, we have some idea that the process required a great number and wide range of slave laborers to construct them. Each laborer would have a different task. Some of the laborers were stonecutters; others were required to push and pull gigantic blocks of stone; still others were required to grease the stones to reduce friction. In this process, we see the management principals of division of labor, coordination, and specialization. These groups of workers were supervised by one individual. In figuring out how best to handle the huge numbers of workers engaged in pyramid building, the ancient Egyptians also pioneered the concept of span of control, that is, the number of workers that a manager controls directly. Anticipating research on this issue in the far, far distant future, Egyptians found the ideal number of workers per supervisor to be ten. In addition, there were various overseers, who had the responsibility to compel workers to produce.

In Asia, the Chinese began to develop the idea of bureaucracy. Bureaucracy has roots in the early dynasties but only became fully developed during the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD).7 The idea was to train scholars in Confucian teachings and use those teachings to make decisions. Unlike modern bureaucracies, this system was not formal but relied upon the discretion of the scholars themselves. Another important development was the idea of meritocracy because selection for and then promotion within a bureaucracy was based on a test of Confucian teaching.

The Greeks (800 BC–400 BC) and Romans (500 BC–476 AD) added a number of important steps in the development of management. Although neither empire was commercially oriented, both Greeks and the Romans undertook a wide range of industrial projects, such as roads and aqueducts, and established various guilds and societies that encouraged trade. The Greeks continued to develop the idea of division of labor based on Plato’s recognition of human diversity. The great Greek philosopher Socrates stressed the development of managerial skills such as creating an atmosphere of information sharing and analysis. The Romans’ contribution to management was standardization. Because the Romans needed to administer a vast empire, they needed standardization of measures, weights, and coins. Romans also saw the birth of the corporation, in that many Roman companies sold stocks to the public.

Both Greece and Rome saw the continued pestilence of slavery, but due to economic changes that made slavery financially unfeasible, workers were gaining some degree of freedom. They still had masters who determined at what jobs they could work and how those jobs should be done. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, there was a decline in European trade. Scholars refer to this time as the Dark or Middle Ages (500 AD–1000 AD), due its location between the classical world of the Greeks and Romans and the world of the Renaissance. While there was little trade or economic development in Europe during this period, trade flourished in the Muslim and Chinese worlds. Various travelers, such as 13th-century Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo, provided readers with tales and goods from those booming societies.

Concept Check

  1. What were the contributions of the following groups to modern management: Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, and Romans?
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