ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, and to a lesser degree in the 1990s, management has simultaneously undergone a regression and a progression. For on the one hand management has ‘regressed’ back to its primal origins; on the other hand it has progressed through, and beyond, its supposedly analytical straight-jacket. The prime instigator of this ‘back to basics’ movement has been Tom Peters, a highly energetic and dynamic American based in California. Initially going out ‘in search of excellence’ with his McKinsey colleague Bob Waterman, Peters established a new wave of management thinking that very quickly became vogue in both Europe and America. Peters’ ‘new’ wave represented, at one and the same time, a return to primal, huntergatherer instincts and a reinstatement of the American enterprisingcommunal spirit. The personalized, hunter instinct, firstly then, was resurrected in the form of ‘winning’:
The message that comes through so poignantly in the studies we reviewed is that we [Americans] like to think of ourselves as winners. The lesson that the excellent companies have to teach us is that there is no reason why we can’t design systems that continually reinforce this notion.1
