ABSTRACT
As stated in the Preface, one of the purposes of this book is to use the past experience and past practices of management to help people think in new ways about management as it is done in the present, and even perhaps as it might be done in the future. We have not tried to cover the whole history of management practice; indeed, we have barely scratched the surface of this huge and complex subject. Instead, the purpose has been to use past experience and practice as a mirror or a lens with which to view the present from a different angle. That means that, out of necessity, we have been selective in our choice of examples. We have tried to indicate the breadth and variety of views and practices and show how some of the most important have evolved over time, until we have reached the present day. What can we learn from this picture, however incomplete, of the past?
Another purpose of this book was to create a forum for discussion and to encourage people to draw their own lessons from the material. In keeping with that spirit, we will not set out any hard conclusions here. Instead, let us concentrate on some of the key themes that have run through this book. One theme that emerges is that, for all that managers spend much of their
time concentrating on and thinking about the future, the past still exercises a powerful influence over what they do. Some of the management practices and theories that we think of as ‘new’ actually have deep roots in the past. Others, while genuinely new in themselves, are nonetheless the product of social and environmental forces that in some cases go right back to the birth of civilisation. Memory, even sub-conscious memory, still plays a part in our decisions and actions. Tradition and innovation often go hand in hand. Perhaps the most important theme of all is the way that past actions and decisions can constrain those that we take in the present, narrowing our options and reducing our scope for action. Yet the past can also enable greater freedom of action in the present, if we
use it in the right way. The past is just one of many sources of inspiration and knowledge that managers have available to them. Further, examination of the past helps us to understand why we do things the way we do them now. This enables self-examination, and if necessary self-criticism, and these in turn can be first steps to improvement.
