Management Theory: The Drucker Way

Management theory: the Drucker way

by

R Heller

Austrian-born lecturer, consultant and writer Peter Drucker died in 2005 at the age of 95 but his legacy is bound to endure.

Drucker was an expert in the area of management theory and there are many who have been guided by his wisdom. He was a specialist in applied intelligence, a very powerful management technique. With the aid of common sense, he discovered truths and arrived at correct conclusions from his observations.

He was a humanist who recognised that business success requires the realisation of human potential, something that can t be quantified or measured.

However, Drucker did not ignore hard figures or facts. His prediction of the knowledge worker s unstoppable rise was made using factual observation and information.

Drucker made use of information that was available to all but his skill was to project the observed present into a likely future.

Another fact recognised by Drucker was mankind s fallible nature, often leading to people acting against their own interests. He believed that human incompetence was the only inexhaustible commodity.

Although that might appear pessimistic, Drucker was optimistic in believing that improvement is possible in all areas, as long as the right questions are asked and the right answers are found.

Drucker also held the view that the study of both customers and non-customers was a crucial measure in avoiding collapse.

The great man explained: The first signs of fundamental change rarely appear within one s own organisation or among one s own customers.

To argue that a business can t exist without customers might sound like stating the obvious but Drucker was the first to articulate this fact and inspired many a marketing pundit in doing so.

His uncomplicated formula for management was:

1) Know what you need to do

2) Know how you need to do it

3) DO IT

The third point is stressed because of its ultimate importance.

The knowledge of what to do has improved a great deal since the publication of Drucker s book The Practice of Management in 1954, which filled a gap in the market of useful management literature.

As mentioned before, Drucker was a humanist and he believed people should be treated as humans rather than robots.

His advice for recruitment sets out four questions for the person doing the recruiting rather than the candidate:

1) In what areas has the candidate done well?

2) In what areas are they likely to do well?

3) What will they need to learn to realise the full potential of their strengths?

4) Would you allow your son or daughter work under them?

Drucker s management theories often went against the grain of accepted wisdom. However, challenge is needed for even the greatest manager or thinker.

Drucker believed in the value of teaching as opposed to preaching and was quite correctly wary of any management panacea or cure-all.

Whether they know it or not, a great many managers will have Drucker s philosophies to thank for their success for years to come.

Robert Heller regularly writes articles on

management theory

for business management website Thinking Managers. For more information, see http://www.thinkingmanagers.com

Article Source:

Management theory: the Drucker way