Introduction: The era of management: a historical perspective on twentieth-century management

Abstract

The twentieth century is a special period in the history of management. It is characterised by an extraordinary dissemination and diversification of management. However, the era consists of different phases. Inspired by the work of historians and philosophers of history who wrote on periodization as well as business and management historians who researched the development of management, we present a new periodization. Moreover, we suggest that the heyday of management in the 1980s and 1990s was followed by an ‘end’ of twentieth-century management. In addition, we argue that too much emphasised has been placed on the development of management in industry and too little on how management was adopted and represented in banks, public administration, politics and in popular culture. Thus we hope that a closer look at and different focus on twentieth-century management will improve our understanding of differences in the history of management and stimulate new debate.