Management Innovators

Here is a who's who of business, thirty-one profiles of inventors, financiers, organizers, motivators, and gurus—a vivid, informative look at the history of management as seen through the lives of its most influential figures.
We meet Eli Whitney, creator of the cotton gin and father of the machine tool industry, who failed to profit from his genius; Thomas Edison, who once vowed he would never invent anything he couldn't sell; and Andrew Carnegie, who applied the railroad management system to the steel industry, with spectacular results. There are profiles of such railroad giants as James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman, and colorful portraits of Samuel Morse and Graham Bell, the two men who launched the communications industry in the U.S. The great innovators of management and organization are here as well, including the founders of systematic management, Frederick W. Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. There's an intriguing side-by-side look at William C. Durant, builder of General Motors, a visionary but a weak manager and organizer, and Alfred P. Sloan, who gave GM the structure it needed, and provided the model for all large, multiproduct firms to come. And there are thought-provoking profiles of motivational experts Elton Mayo and Abraham Maslow; quality advocates W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Moses Juran; Taiichi Ohno, inventor of just-in-time manufacturing; and finally, Peter Drucker, the most influential management thinker of our time.
This is the distilled essence of management genius, a stimulating and, at times, inspiring look at the pioneers who shaped how we do business today.

Library Journal

Wren (management, Univ. of Oklahoma) and the now deceased business historian Greenwood present a condensed economic history of the lives of 31 individuals who have contributed to modern management methods. Represented are a wide variety of some of the greatest innovators in the fields of manufacturing, communications, inventing, finance, selling, and management. Many of those profiled (Eli Whitney, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Frederick W. Taylor) can be found in secondary sources. However, the authors look at these individuals from a business and managerial point of view, which sets this book apart. The authors depict, in an easy style, the evolutionary process of idea to product to market and the changes that took place in the way people work. Snapshot views of economic history in "small doses" make this book appealing to students and managers who wish to gain some background information in this area. Recommended.Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, N.Y.

Daniel A. Wren is David Ross Boyd Professor of Management at the University of Oklahoma and the Curator of the Harry W. Bass Business History Collection. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma. Ronald G. Greenwood, now deceased, was a widely published author on management and business history.