ABSTRACT
The origins and development of educational management as a distinct discipline have been chronicled by Bone (1982), Bush (1995), Culbertson (1980) and Hughes and Bush (1991). It began in the United States as a variant of general management. The work of Taylor (1947) was particularly influential and his ‘scientific management movement’ is still subject to vigorous debate, particularly by those who oppose a ‘managerial’ approach to education. Another important contributor to management theory was the French writer Fayol (1916), whose ‘general principles of management’ are still significant. Weber's (1989) work on bureaucracy, developed in the nineteenth century, remains a powerful conception of educational management. All these theories emerged outside education and were subsequently applied to schools and colleges, with mixed results.
