Management Hall of Fame
Most Respected Management Gurus

Peter F. Drucker
Modern Management Guru (1909 -2005)

"Leadership is all hype. We've had three great leaders in this century - Hitler, Stalin, and Mao." (Peter F. Drucker)

Key Work

• Gets PhD in Public & International Law, University of Frankfurt, Germany.
• Works as investment banker in London, UK
• Works as investment advisor and correspondent for Financial News, USA
• Works as a private consultant to business and on government policy
• Teaches at Sarah Lawrence College;
• Professor at Bennington College, Vermont.
• Spends 18 months interviewing senior management at General Motors, which produces: The Concept of the Corporation" - Assessing the weaknesses of GM - Becomes best-seller
• Becomes Professor of Management at New York University Graduate School of Business.
• Publish more  than 33 books published over seven decades
• Founds of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-profit Management.

The fundamental difference between Drucker and GM was the GM saw the workforce as a cost, while  Drucker saw them as a resource. With GM business model he questioned whether the current corporation policies and procedure would continue to work in a future of global competition, changing social values, automation, the drive for quality and the growth of the knowledge worker. He brought attention to

• How the layers of bureaucracy slowed down decision making, and suggested that the GM hierarchy of commands and controls would be slow to respond in a rapidly changing future.
• Theinefficiency of the assembly line
• How Policies created adversarial labor relations and De-motivation
• The relationship between the employee and the organization
• The need for continual training and retraining and self development of managers
• The social and environmental responsibility of the organization
• The imperatives of community and customer relations.

In his book the "Practice of Management"he identified 8 management performance measurements

1. Market standing
2. Innovation
3. Productivity
4. Physical and financial resources
5. Profitability
6. Managers' performance and development
7. Workers' performance and attitude
8. Public responsibility

Drucker highlights the new realities of changing population demographics, the emergence of global markets,   new world economy and employee society His identify the new management challenges

• In the knowledge organization, the "supervisor" has to become an "assistant, " a "resource, " a "teacher."
• No need for "middle management".
• Top management that will have to restructure itself to meet the challenges
• Top management will have a lead in social responsibility

Books & References:

• The Future of Industrial Man: A Conservative Approach. New York: The New American Library, 1965.
• The Practice of Management. New York: Harper & Row, 1954.
• Managing for Results Economic Tasks and Risk-taking Decisions. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
• Concept of the Corporation. New York: New American Library, 1964.
• The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials). New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
• The End of Economic Man. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.
• Technology, Management and Society. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
• Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
• Managing in Turbulent Times. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.
• The Changing World of the Executive. New York: Times Books, 1982.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Practice and Principles. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.
• The Frontiers of Management: Where Tomorrow's Decisions Are Being Shaped Today. New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutten, 1986.
• Managing the Non-Profit Organization : Principles and Practices. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990.
• Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond. New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutten, 1992.
• Managing in a Time of Great Change. New York: Truman Talley Books/Dutten, 1999.

:::

Back to Management Gurus

:::

Executive Education and Management Training

• The institute researches, develops, and disseminates management-best-practices and learned-lessons from leading CEOs and Management Gurus. For advanced executive education and management training courses, please visit the Management Training Courses.