Customer Reviews

Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (Harvard Business Review Book)

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This is a collection of articles written, over a period of many years, for the Harvard Business Review and now published by the Harvard Business School Press. They were selected and organized by Nan Stone. Each is a classic.

Other business books three times greater in length offer about a third of what this anthology does in terms of substance. In Part I, Drucker examines "The Manager's Responsibilities" and in Part II, "The Executive's World." When nearing his 90th birthday, Drucker observes that he is "not comfortable with the word manager any more, because it implies subordinates." This is a revealing comment in light of what the word profession literally means: "to make a public declaration or vow." For Drucker, professionals are those who have crystal clear, non-negotiable values and make a total commitment to them. Drucker may have doubts about the word "manager" but certainly has no doubts about the absolute importance of having impeccable integrity.

He reaffirms his conviction that the "fundamental task of management remains the same: to make people capable of joint performance by giving them common goals, common values, the right structure, and the ongoing training and development they need to perform and to respond to change."

Are there any predictions in Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management? No. Rather, Drucker examines the implications of a future "that has already happened." Only time will tell who prove equal to the challenges he has so eloquently identified. Authentic professionals are those who combine talent and skill with character. The challenges which await them will surely test their talent and skill but must never be allowed to compromise their character.

Peter F. Drucker is known as the "management guru's management guru". The articles in this book explain the reason. Each article is a landmark in the field of management.

In the preface Drucker shows why he has become so famous. He shows his strength of recognising trends and how these trends will affect business, people, and society. This preface is followed by a short introduction from the editor.

The book consists of two Parts, The Manager's Responsibilities and The Executive's World, with each consisting of 6 Harvard Business Review-articles (out of 32 articles and growing). The book also includes an interesting preface, an introduction by Harvard Business Review-editor Nan Stone, and an interview with Peter Drucker.

In Part I - The Manager's Responsibilities, the articles discuss the managerial responsibilities of the manager, although Drucker prefers the term "executive". The articles discuss general management such as the decision-making process, effective management, strategic management, and innovation.

Part II - The Executive's World, Drucker discusses the history of management, the transformation from the traditional command-and-control model to knowledge-based organizations, information technology, and non-profit management.

The book concludes with an interview with Peter Drucker, which is based on his 1995-book 'Post-Capitalist Society'.

The book deserves the five-star rating since each article is fantastic. Perhaps some of them overlap, but it is amazing that some of the articles written in the 1960s are still very valid today. Drucker's writing style is simple US-English.

Drucker's writing style makes it easy to understand, grasp, and put to work the pearls he has gathered over his 90+ years. No matter where you are in management, whether seasoned professional or new entrepreneur, if you read this compilation of Drucker's timeless articles (originally printed in the Harvard Business Review), you will come away with greater respect and understanding of the simple truths of business wisdom. He gives you the 10% of the knowledge that provides 90% of the benefit in all the major management skill sets. Our business is providing economically focused innovation, and I have to say that Drucker's analysis of what is innovation, how to go about it, what the important elements are, and how to make it pay, is the best I've ever read. If you only have time for one management book, let this it the one.

For nearly half a century Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909- ) has inspired and educated managers-and influenced the nature of business-with his landmark articles in the Harvard Business Review. Here, gathered together and framed by a thoughtful introduction from the Review's editor Nan Stone, is a priceless collection of his most significant work.

One of our leading thinkers on the practice and study of management, Drucker has sought out, identified, and examined the most important issues confronting managers, from corporate strategy to management style to social change. Through his unique lens, this volume gives us the rare opportunity to trace the evolution of the great shifts in our workplaces, and to understand more clearly the role of managers in the ongoing effort to balance change with continuity.

Now, these important articles and essays are strategically presented here to address two unifying themes: the first examines "The Manager's Responsibilities" while the second investigates "The Executive's World". Accompanied by an interview with Peter Drucker on "The Post-Capitalist Executive", as well as a thought-provoking preface by Peter Drucker himself, a complete picture of management theory and practice emerges, both as it was and as it will be.

Infused with a perspective that holds new relevance today, these essays represent Drucker at his best: direct, wise and challenging. Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management, sure to be studied, debated, and enjoyed by everyone concerned with management, everyone concerned with management, is a timely offering from one of the most respected and prolific authors to appear in the Harvard Business Review.

At 90, Peter Drucker is, by all accounts, the most enduring management thinker of our time. Born in Vienna, educated in Austria and England, he has worked since 1937 in the United States, first as an economist for a group of British banks and insurance companies, and later as a management consultant to several leading companies. Drucker has since had a distinguished career as a teacher, including more than twenty years as Professor of Management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. Since 1971 he has been Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University in California, where he still teaches in the fields of management and business policy. He is the founder of The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and has counseled numerous governments, public service institutions, and major corporations.

Drucker is a writer, teacher, and consultant with a long-term business perspective second to none. His twenty-nine previous books have been published in more than twenty languages and span sixty years of modern history beginning with The End of Economic Man (1939) and Managing in a Time of Great Change; Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices; Innovation and Entrepreneurship; The Effective Executive; Managing for Results and The Practice of Management. Nan Stone is the editor of the Harvard Business Review.

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan, Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu. Azlan has a MA in International Business and Management from the University of Westminster.

Peter Drucker has 60 years of experience teaching and writing about management. This collection of essays, first published in Harvard Business Review, outline Drucker's views on managerial responsibility. Among other things, this book also includes his insights on making more effective decisions, improving staffing choices, locating innovative opportunities, and aligning your theory of business.

Drucker outlines the five essential management principles:

1. Management is about human beings. Your task as a manager is to make people capable of working together.
2. Management is embedded in culture. You must be able to use parts of your history, tradition and culture as building blocks for a common corporate culture.
3. Management is responsible for growing an organization. Integrate training and development into your organization at all levels.
4. Use yardsticks like market standing, innovation, productivity, human development, quality and financial results to measure and improve performance.
5. Look for results outside of your company, in the products and services you deliver, not relative to internal processes within the company.

Drucker also outlines six steps to guide decision-making:

1. Classify the problem. Is the problem unique to your company, or the beginning of a more general problem?
2. Define the problem. Make sure the definition explains all the observable facts.
3. Define the boundary conditions, like objectives or goals, that your decision must satisfy. When the conditions change, your decision must change with them.
4. Decide. Usually you will have to compromise eventually. Decide what is right.
5. Take action. Make sure your employees know what the decision involves, and who is expected to do what.
6. Get feedback. Gather information on the effectiveness of your decision. Make sure your decision is still relevant to current conditions.

This book is yet another outstanding of Mr. Drucker's genius for both seasoned and intermediate managers. Regardless of one's academic background the insight and wealth of each Chapter is overwhelming. The format and ideas are presented in an exceptional fashion and certainly represent a rich and complete compendium of issues that are confronted on a daily basis by managers around the world.

If you want to make a difference then you need to read this book! In this Internet/computer connected world we live in today we need tools. I also recommend "Life and Death on the Internet" by Keith A. Schroeder. It is the world we live in.

This is a collection of essays which theorize on business management. It is not a how-to manual for aspiring managers.

While there are some interesting points scattered throughout the book it did not impress me overall. First, the essays are quite repetitive because they discuss only a few common topics. Second, the author is not a manager but an academic so the essays are rather vague, abstract and theoretical. Third, while the author gives many real-world business examples and outlines of world history, the 'analyses' are little more than rambling conjecture. Fourth, the author tries to predict the future in many of the essays, but even when he happens to be right, that future is actually Now, so the predictions are dated and irrelevant today.

If you want inspiration for business management I would instead recommend autobiographies of some of the great business leaders. They often reveal the principles that made them successful.

If you teach business classes, have students read this book and apply it to situations. They will learn a lot! Reinforce the concepts and have them visit CGS.

It should be mandatory for every M.B.A. student in the world.