This book has two broad purposes. First, it seeks to determine whether or not there is a "universal" management model through an examination of circumstance in a number of different nations and industries. Second, it brings to a wider audience some of the leading research in the field of management history. In doing so, it highlights the importance of the Management History Division of the Academy of Management in fostering and disseminating new understandings of management and its development. The book indicates that, while there has been much variance in managerial practices across time and space, we can nevertheless speak of a "universal" managerial model. Emerging in association with Britain's Industrial Revolution, the spread of competitive pressures progressively demanded that enterprises respond in broadly common ways if they were to survive. These broad commonalities can be seen in the diverse industries that this book considers - the beef industry of the Northern Plains of the United States in the nineteenth century, the trading activities of the Dutch East India Company, the United States and Australian railroads, and the manufacturing methods of the Ford Motor Company during the early twentieth century. In each of these circumstances, industries and firms had to constantly adapt to changes in both capital and consumer markets. This is evident even in the case of the Ford Motor Company which, as James Wilson's chapter indicates, was in its early days "flexible" rather than Fordist, constantly adjusting production and inventories in accordance with consumer demand. Such responses to global markets is also found in the realms of ideas and education, where the book's study of trends in business education highlights the growing dominance of commercial factors and of intellectual concepts stemming from the United States. The power of management commonalities is also found in the book's study of Australia and the United States. In Australia, governments long sought to isolate the national economy from global trends so as to boost manufacturing and local employment. Ultimately, however, this proved unsuccessful as Australian production became increasingly uncompetitive. A severe process of economic readjustment, with often adverse social effects, is also found in the book's chapter on the United States, which highlights the major changes that have occurred since the 1960s. This book also considers how managerial organizations have been forced to adapt and the intellectual debates that have accompanied this. Finally, in Regina Greenwood's chapter, we have an account of the Management History Division of the Academy of Management, an organization which has provided the fulcrum for the generation and dissemination of management history for the last 3 decades.

This work examines the rise of postmodernism in management scholarship and argues that the prevalence of postmodernist thought reflects a lack of understanding by management researchers of the core principles upon which Western business endeavour is based. The author highlights postmodernism's methodological and conceptual failings, such as disbelief in material progress and economic advancement, and its denial of generalizable laws to direct management research. In its place, the author proposes a return to traditional modernist principles in management research, based on scientific evidence. This ground breaking, timely work will spark debate and challenge previously accepted claims of postmodernism, a nice retort to the anti-business/anti-capitalist literature now prevalent in academia.

This book argues that modern Western civilization is synonymous with business, and you cannot have one without the other-or, at least, not for very long. Without Western civilization, with its emphasis on inquiry, questioning, experimentation, reasoning, freedom of expression, a free press, equality of opportunity before the law-then the innovation and vitality that lies at the heart of Western business success, evaporates. Without business endeavor, all the ideas and inquiry are materially meaningless. The author postulates that only through business opportunity is the wealth created that allows a continuation of our society's intellectual endeavors. Further, the world of modern business-a unique creation of Western civilization, even if it has witnessed many regional and national adaptations-is also the actual place where inequalities are overcome and opportunities created. It is through the world of business and work that women have, for example, achieved something approaching equality with men, to a degree unprecedented in human history. This book will offer scholars a research-based argument that Western civilization owes its existence to business rather than Greco-Roman antiquity.

This work examines the rise of postmodernism in management scholarship and argues that the prevalence of postmodernist thought reflects a lack of understanding by management researchers of the core principles upon which Western business endeavour is based. The author highlights postmodernism's methodological and conceptual failings, such as disbelief in material progress and economic advancement, and its denial of generalizable laws to direct management research. In its place, the author proposes a return to traditional modernist principles in management research, based on scientific evidence. This ground breaking, timely work will spark debate and challenge previously accepted claims of postmodernism, a nice retort to the anti-business/anti-capitalist literature now prevalent in academia.

This book argues that modern Western civilization is synonymous with business, and you cannot have one without the other—or, at least, not for very long. Without Western civilization, with its emphasis on inquiry, questioning, experimentation, reasoning, freedom of expression, a free press, equality of opportunity before the law—then the innovation and vitality that lies at the heart of Western business success, evaporates. Without business endeavor, all the ideas and inquiry are materially meaningless. The author postulates that only through business opportunity is the wealth created that allows a continuation of our society’s intellectual endeavors. Further, the world of modern business—a unique creation of Western civilization, even if it has witnessed many regional and national adaptations—is also the actual place where inequalities are overcome and opportunities created. It is through the world of business and work that women have, for example, achieved something approaching equality with men, to a degree unprecedented in human history. This book will offer scholars a research-based argument that Western civilization owes its existence to business rather than Greco-Roman antiquity.

Alike in many aspects of their histories, Australia and the United States diverge in striking ways when it comes to their working classes, labor relations, and politics. Greg Patmore and Shelton Stromquist curate innovative essays that use transnational and comparative analysis to explore the two nations' differences. The contributors examine five major areas: World War I's impact on labor and socialist movements; the history of coerced labor; patterns of ethnic and class identification; forms of working-class collective action; and the struggles related to trade union democracy and independent working-class politics. Throughout, many essays highlight how hard-won transnational ties allowed Australians and Americans to influence each other's trade union and political cultures. Contributors: Robin Archer, Nikola Balnave, James R. Barrett, Bradley Bowden, Verity Burgmann, Robert Cherny, Peter Clayworth, Tom Goyens, Dianne Hall, Benjamin Huf, Jennie Jeppesen, Marjorie A. Jerrard, Jeffrey A. Johnson, Diane Kirkby, Elizabeth Malcolm, Patrick O'Leary, Greg Patmore, Scott Stephenson, Peta Stevenson-Clarke, Shelton Stromquist, and Nathan Wise

This book has two broad purposes. First, it seeks to determine whether or not there is a "universal" management model through an examination of circumstance in a number of different nations and industries. Second, it brings to a wider audience some of the leading research in the field of management history. In doing so, it highlights the importance of the Management History Division of the Academy of Management in fostering and disseminating new understandings of management and its development. The book indicates that, while there has been much variance in managerial practices across time and space, we can nevertheless speak of a "universal" managerial model. Emerging in association with Britain's Industrial Revolution, the spread of competitive pressures progressively demanded that enterprises respond in broadly common ways if they were to survive. These broad commonalities can be seen in the diverse industries that this book considers - the beef industry of the Northern Plains of the United States in the nineteenth century, the trading activities of the Dutch East India Company, the United States and Australian railroads, and the manufacturing methods of the Ford Motor Company during the early twentieth century. In each of these circumstances, industries and firms had to constantly adapt to changes in both capital and consumer markets. This is evident even in the case of the Ford Motor Company which, as James Wilson's chapter indicates, was in its early days "flexible" rather than Fordist, constantly adjusting production and inventories in accordance with consumer demand. Such responses to global markets is also found in the realms of ideas and education, where the book's study of trends in business education highlights the growing dominance of commercial factors and of intellectual concepts stemming from the United States. The power of management commonalities is also found in the book's study of Australia and the United States. In Australia, governments long sought to isolate the national economy from global trends so as to boost manufacturing and local employment. Ultimately, however, this proved unsuccessful as Australian production became increasingly uncompetitive. A severe process of economic readjustment, with often adverse social effects, is also found in the book's chapter on the United States, which highlights the major changes that have occurred since the 1960s. This book also considers how managerial organizations have been forced to adapt and the intellectual debates that have accompanied this. Finally, in Regina Greenwood's chapter, we have an account of the Management History Division of the Academy of Management, an organization which has provided the fulcrum for the generation and dissemination of management history for the last 3 decades.