The document discusses the history and evolution of management education and the liberal arts tradition. It traces how management training emerged from the liberal arts tradition in the late 19th century but became more focused on scientific principles and quantitative analysis over time. This diminished the human component of management. Recent decades have seen renewed calls to bridge management education and the liberal arts again by making both more socially relevant and focused on Drucker's goal of a "tolerable or hopeful" society.

1. Management & Liberal Arts Traditions: Bridging the Two Worlds From Drucker’s Lost Art of Management Joseph A. Maciariello and Karen E. Linkletter

2. The History of the Liberal Arts Tradition and the Rise of the University Roots in Classic Greek Civilization. Rise of European University with a structured curriculum on the Greco-Roman artesliberales. Protestant Colleges retained artesliberalesgoal of building character and leaders. Rise of the modern research university in Germany with emphasis on individual freedom and democraticideals(occurred within US as well). Growth of more secular, state sponsored institutions to prepare young men for modernizing world. New idea that the university was the place and source of cultivation of ideas and development.

3. Challenges to Learning 19th century transition to the “liberal-free ideal” leading to highly flexible coursework. Academic freedom and independent research transformed universities into research oriented institutions with little resemblance of liberal arts of antiquity. Intellectual disorder in universities reflective of the social and cultural disorder existing beyond ivory tower. Post Civil War industrial expansion fueled attitude that a liberal arts education was outdated.

4. History of Management Training and Professional Business Schools (19th Century) Growth of Professional Organizations for educated middle class to distinguish itself from the lower working class. Business school linked to larger trend towards specialization and professionalization. Universal white male suffrage increased the need for educated populace. 1stb-school’s (Wharton, Harvard & Dartmouth) capitalized on trend towards scientific specialization while retaining elements of liberal arts tradition. Influence of Scientific Management to improve productivity as the study of business became a profession.

5. Early 20thcentury Linking the new business school with the liberal arts tradition ensured that the values of old would be inscribed on the new institution. To promote professionalism, b-school’s emphasized scientific management and rationalism. After the US entered WWI, war production placed unprecedented demands on businesses and the obsession with efficiency and planning reached new heights. By 1920, business and managerial professionals no longer seen as a source of disruption and were now seen as able to regulate the ups and downs of society (e.g., the business cycle). Most Americans in 1920 believed management, planning, and efficiency were the key to social order and prosperity.

6. Depression and the rejection of the MBA During the 1920s business schools appeared to choose their curriculum in a “shot gun” approach. During the Great Depression b-school curriculum became more standardized as management as a profession came under fire. Americans rejected the model of the business elite and now placed their faith on planning and bureaucracy in the public sector. The Modern Corporation and Private Property by Gardiner Means and Adolf Berle, presented the case for managers to consider their obligations to society and not just their own interests.

7. Post WWII Despite lost faith in business professional ability to control societal ups and downs, the demand for professionally trained managers boomed as America’s corporate sector expanded. Economy driven by newly structured firms with excess capacity from war production as well as up and coming industries like consumer credit. The GI Bill created a flood of primarily white American men into colleges and universities many of which opted for a business degree. University faculty in other departments viewed b-schools as solely a place for vocational training, composed of classes that lacked academic rigor and faculties doing 2ndrate research. The Ford Foundations report, Higher Education for Business, shattered the image and confidence of the b-school community.

8. The White Collar Manager Perception of new white collar workers turning into soulless “yes men”, willing to sacrifice their individuality and moral fiber for pecuniary gain. Drucker’sThe Practice of Management put management on the map as a discipline worthy of study. Business faculty pursued increasingly specialized areas of research to establish their scholarly credibility. During the 1970s b school curricula fell into a prescribed model of coursework defining the “typical” MBA program. A new emphasis on quantitative methods and management science eradicated the ideals of the liberal arts. Despite Drucker’s work, during 1950s and 60s the human component of management was lost and analytical managers were King.

9. Modern Social and Economic Upheavals Corporate executives were portrayed as loose cannons incapable of effectively managing organizations. Aligning the interest of shareholders and managers by rewarding managers with increases in accordance with share values. The corporate world had become a jungle, and “you bring your own machete”. BusinessWeek rankings of MBA programs emphasizing starting salaries of graduates and volume of job offers received versus academic quality. 1980s students started to demand they received marketable skills – they sought an ROI. Management as a profession, discipline and practice was broken and battered long before the mortgage meltdown and credit crisis.

10. Chapter 2 Take Aways Must recognize the need for social relevance of both traditions and restore their most crucial components. Liberal arts struggle to be socially relevant. Drucker’sgoal of a “tolerable or hopeful” society provides us with a goal for the practice management as a liberal art.