Book Review: A New History of Management

Abstract

A New History of Management (ANHM) sets a renewed and higher standard for teaching the history of our field. It confronts commonly accepted textbook representations of the history of management with novel interpretations of ‘classical texts’, supported by new historical case materials, which together challenge many conventional narratives about management that would typically be taught in business schools. In the authors’ words, “without critical questioning, the little that we remember of our past becomes inevitable, both as the truth about our past and for our future horizons too” (p. 320). The authors of ANHM expect that readers who understand the socio-political contexts which led to the development of each of the ‘classics’, will be convinced to abandon the idea that management theory emerged solely as a response to, and in the quest for, efficiency.