Peter F. Drucker, one of the world's foremost management gurus, passed away on Nov 11th 2005 in Claremont, California. He was 95.
I started learning( and am still a student) about management concepts and theories at my b-school several years ago, by reading Peter Drucker and his philosophy of management. His articles and thoughts have left a deep impression in my mind. I still try to read and re-read a lot of his books and articles on management. Everytime when I do so, I always get a new point of view and it still brings-out my vast ignorance in this subject.
The NY times pays a tribute to this great thinker and legend of our times. Here are some excerpts:
- He challenged both business and labor leaders to search for ways to give workers more control over their work environment.
- He also argued that governments should turn many functions over to private enterprise and urged organizing in teams to exploit the rise of a technology-astute class of "knowledge workers."
Mr. Drucker staunchly defended the need for businesses to be profitable but he preached that employees were a resource, not a cost. His constant focus on the human impact of management decisions did not always appeal to executives, but they could not help noticing how it helped him foresee many major trends in business and politics.
Here are some of his quotes:
- "Marketing is a fashionable term. The sales manager becomes a marketing vice president. But a gravedigger is still a gravedigger even when it is called a mortician - only the price of the burial goes up."
- "One either meets or one works."
- "The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance."
- "Stock option plans reward the executive for doing the wrong thing. Instead of asking, 'Are we making the right decision?' he asks, 'How did we close today?' It is encouragement to loot the corporation."
May his soul rest in peace.
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