At the dawn of the 20th century, a transformation movement woke up and made itself heard with imposing force. The second industrial revolution spread throughout the world in multiple ways with the introduction of new fuels and forms of energy. The mobilization of raw materials, goods and people also presented an evolution with the popularization of the automobile and the use of the commercial airplane. But, above all, the way in which human beings communicate with each other is modified, with the invention of the telephone and radio, the speed at which emotions, ideas, feelings and instructions were transmitted becomes almost immediate.
With all these discoveries and inventions, organizational changes take place in companies and in markets. In the first instance because the economy leaves its regional nature to become a globalized economy where millions of transactions are carried out daily. Increased competition makes it necessary for companies to reform the way in which they relate to the environment, their consumers and their employees.
With the advent of two world wars, the hegemony of the economy is divided between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. After decades of cold war and with the fall of the Berlin wall, the American power declares itself as an economic, military and political node in the whole world. This situation establishes capitalism as the main economic system and with it, companies submit to a situation of open competition at a global level.
With the recovery of the post-war economies and their subsequent integration into the economic system, it is necessary that the thinking of companies be modified. From the scientific administration focused on increasing production, new administration schools are born based on the situation of global trade and the culture and philosophy of the country where they are developed. The company requires leaders, not only people who direct production and make choices based on market transformation, but it requires people who are pillars of the companies' philosophy and mission.
In order to define this class of new leaders, it is necessary to resort to the term "guru". The term guru in the English language has a reinterpretation of its original meaning in Sanskrit. The word "guru" in English means: "Spiritual leader" or "expert" ("guru - English-Spanish Dictionary - WordReference.com", s / f) However the original meaning in Sanskrit means
"That has weight" ("The double meaning of the word 'guru' - Yoga on the Net", s / f) referring to its importance in the lives of others.
Therefore, the middle of the 20th century provides us with the foundations of modern administration. The language of administration tends to adapt philosophical concepts and reinterpret them within the language of business, and many ideas that were used in wars are reinterpreted to be used in a different battlefield: that of global economic competition.
The administration gurus of the mid-20th century
The twentieth century gave as a product to great minds that come from various fields of study. Some focused on the market as an element directs companies, some others analyze behavior from a psychological point of view and others analyze systems as complex mathematical labyrinths.
The following list summarizes the exponents of administrative thought of the 20th century who continue with the thought of scientific administration, the school of humanism and create other perspectives on the understanding of business within the capitalist system.
5. Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)
About Peter Drucker (Institute, s / f)
Peter F. Drucker was a writer, professor, management consultant who described himself as a "Social Ecologist" who explored the way in which humans organize and interact from a point of view similar to what an ecologist would observe and analyze. the biological world.
Named by “Business Week” magazine as “The man who invented management”. Drucker directly influenced a large number of leaders from a wide range of organizations in all sectors of society such as General Electric, IBM, Intel, Procter & Gamble among others.
4. Gary Becker (1930 - 2014)
About Gary Becker ("Gary Becker, the great economist of human behavior", 2014)
Becker broke the mold investigating discrimination, racism, the family, education, human capital, the minimum wage, altruism, immigration, the cost of restaurants, competition or democracy, becoming one of the most cited authors among his peers, perhaps the most important economist of the century, and leading him to win the Nobel in 1992.
Becker was different because he never wanted to be in an ivory tower, nor did he hide behind matrices and equations. For Becker, economics was not so much a field of study as a method of analysis, one to combine with others to understand human behavior and truly understand the functioning of society. Even in his Chicago tennis games, he played maximizing the utility of each of his shots against much younger opponents.
3. Peter Senge (1947)
About Peter Senge (“Peter Senge and the learning organization”, 2013)
Peter Senge is the creator of the Learning Organization. Their vision of this organization as a group of people who are constantly challenging their abilities to create what they want to create had a profound influence. Senge discusses the 5 disciplines which are analyzed as the center of learning organizations and some questions about the theory and practice of organizations.
Senge was named the strategist of the decade by the Journal of business strategy, as well as being one of 24 men or women who have had a major impact on the way business is conducted. His study focuses on how firms and organizations develop adaptive capacities. In his book: The fifth discipline he popularizes the term "learning organization". Since its publication, more than a million copies have been sold and in 1997 the Harvard Business Review identifies the book as one of the main educational topics of the last 75 years.
2. Daniel Goleman (1946)
About Daniel Goleman (“About Daniel Goleman”, s / f)
Daniel Goleman is an internationally famous psychologist who teaches frequently before professional groups, business audiences, and universities. As a science journalist, Goleman has been reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences for the New York Times for many years now.
Her 1995 book Emotional Intelligence was the New York Times bestseller for a year and a half. With more than 5,000,000 copies sold printed in 40 languages, it has been the best-selling in various countries. The Harvard business review called its concept of emotional intelligence a revolutionary idea that breaks paradigms. His What Makes You A Leader article is usually a favorite of business colleges.
1. Bill Gates (1955)
About Bill Gates ("Bio - Bill Gates", s / f)
Bill Gates is a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. He grew up in Seattle Washington with a family that supported and encouraged his interest in computers from a very young age. He dropped out of college to start Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen.
Gates and Allen started Microsoft on a vision of a desktop computer in every home at a time when that would seem impossible. Today, thanks to Microsoft and many other companies, technology is an integral part of society.
The gurus of 20th century administration were inspired by the growth of companies during the century. Either theoretically or empirically, the influence of these people on their environment generated that the new generations of entrepreneurs and administrators had foundations to establish the new forms of organization.
Administration gurus of the new century
In 2001, Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove begin the biannual publication of the ranking “The Thinkers50” (“About”, s / f) in which they identify the main exponents of management thinking at a global level. The influence of these thinkers on academic thinking is fundamental and has great implications for how companies carry out their activities.
This award, which has been defined as the “Oscar of administrative thought”, published in 2015 its top 50 of the most influential thinkers worldwide. His work has been present within companies at different times and has influenced the creation of new solutions in a highly competitive environment.
Naming each of the 50 most influential thinkers would be impossible, since each of them requires special attention thanks to the depth of their ideas and contributions to the administrative sciences. The first 10 winners of the ranking and their contributions will be mentioned within this essay.
10. Daniel Pink (1964)
About Pink: (“Daniel Pink”, 2013)
Author, journalist, speechwriter, political adviser, writer for The bussiness Zeitgeist. Daniel Pink's publications include Free agent nation: The future of working yourself (2001) and Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (2009). His 2012 book To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing, and Influencing Others was nominated in the Thinkers50 Best Book Award ranking.
9. Rita G McGrath (1959)
About McGrath: ("Rita McGrath", 2013)
Rita McGrath is a professor at Columbia Business University and an expert in strategic business growth in uncertain environments. McGrath won the Thinkers50 Strategy award in 2013 and in his most recent book, the end of competitive advantage: how I keep your strategy moving as fast as your bussiness (2013) mentions that competitive advantages are coming to an end, arguing that strategy and innovation are at the forefront.
8. Herminia Ibarra (1970)
About Ibarra: ("Herminia Ibarra", 2013)
Merminia Ibarra is a professor of leadership and learning and a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD. Her most recent book, Act like a Leader, Think like a leader (2015), explains how to interpret the role of leader. Her best-selling book, Working Identity: Unconventional strategies for reinventing your career (2003) describes how people can reinvent their careers.
7. Roger L. Martin (1956)
About Martin ("Roger Martin", 2013)
Roger Martin is the dean of the Rotman School of management at the university of Toronto. He is mostly recognized for his work in integrative thinking as a method for solving complex problems. Playing to win: How Strategy really Works (2013), The Opposable Mind (2008), The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage (2009), and Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes and What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL (2011) are some of his best selling books.
6. Linda Hill (1948)
About Linda Hill ("Linda Hill", 2013)
Linda A. Hill is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. In addition, she teaches initiative and leadership school. Hill's latest work is Collective genius: the art and practice of leading innovation (2014). Her earliest books include Becoming a great leader (2011) and Being the boss: the 3 imperatives for becoming a great leader (2011). In this book Hill examines the challenges of being in charge and reveals how to master the 3 disciplines - managing yourself
5. Marshall Goldsmith (1949)
About Marshall Goldsmith ("Marshall Goldsmith", 2013)
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is one of the global leaders, educators, and authors. He is a pioneer in helping multiple leaders with positive thinking. His success lies in his close proximity to leadership, his clients include over 150 top CEOs. He is the author of the Bestseller MOJO and the book What got you here won't get you there.
4. Don Tapscott (1947)
About Don Tapscott (“Don Tapscott”, 2013)
In addition to being the organist in the band Men in suits, Don Tapscott is one of the authorities in the thinking of innovation, advertising and the impact of technology on society and the economy. He is the founder of the global solutions program and the CEO of the Tapscott group, a think tank that cautions companies and governments around the world. Don has authored and co-authored more than 15 digital economy books.
In July 2015, Don was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of his leadership in the field of business innovation and research into the impact of information technology on society and the economy.
His latest book has been purchased by Penguin random house and will be published in 2016. The book entitled: Blockchain revolution: how the Technology behind bitcoin os changing money, business and the world. This book is co-written with his son Alex Tapscott. This will be the first book that explains why “Blockchain” technology will change the way of online earnings, how they are made and who can participate.
3. W. Chan Kim (1952) & Renne Mauborgne
About Chan and Mauborgne (“W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne”, 2013)
The "Blue Ocean" strategy was published in 2005 and is still very strong. It has sold more than 3.5 million copies and has been translated into more than 44 languages and has been a bestseller on 5 continents making it one of the most successful business books of all time. Its authors Chan and Mauborgne are professors of strategy at INSEAD and co-directors of the INSEAD Institute for Ocean Blue Strategies.
2. Clayton Christensen (1952)
About Clayton Christensen ("Clayton Christensen", 2013)
One of the greatest exponents of innovation, Clayton Cristensen is a professor at Harvard Business School of Management and one of the most prestigious experts in innovation and growth. In addition, he is the founder of Innosight, a consulting firm that uses its theories to create new businesses.
His thesis The innovator´s Dilemma (1997) received the award for the annual business book of that year. The innovator's solutions (2003) follow from that book; Seeing what´s next (2004), Disrupting Class (2008), looking for the roots of why schools suffer to find solutions. The innovator´s prescription (2009) examines how to fix the health system of the United States.
1. Michael Porter (1947)
About Michael Porter ("Michael Porter", 2013)
Named as the father of modern business strategy, Porter, who has been consulted by dozens of corporations and a large number of governments, including the UK, is number one on the list.
Porter's influence on business strategy has been immense. Its 5 forces framework has been the definitive instrument for decades and is still taught in all business schools around the world. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Porter's theory of shared value has led the way in reevaluating the role of capitalism's expectations.
Since 2001, Porter has directed considerable attention to the competence of the health system. More recently, he has applied his ideas to show that information technologies have provided a technological revolution that has transformed competition and deepened the implications for society.
Gurus and trends in administrative thinking
The new trend in administrative thinking is focused on innovation. After a century in which the presence of two wars transforms the global economy, allowing companies located in the United States of America to become the commercial node, the reconstruction of the economies of Europe and Japan makes competition now at the level global.
Administrators of the last century focused their ideas on human relationships, industrial engineering processes, and how to improve processes by looking at the market as a barrier that companies could not directly master. Later this kind of thinking is modified with the introduction of the understanding of innovation.
The new management theorists are the people of the 50's generation. They are born in a post-war world that is closer to the Cold War. The height of their intellectual life occurs between their 40s and 50s and they have very different ideologies from their predecessors.
One of the important visions is that of neoliberalism as the predominant economic system worldwide and the need for systems to be in constant mobility. It is to be noted that theories of mass consumption weaken with the introduction of the individual economy in which each consumer wants to personalize his product.
What awaits the theory of administration in the coming years? It can be seen that the issue of hyper-competition will be of vital importance to the system. Companies currently compete with each other, tending to the perfect competition market, which is the most closed scenario in which one will depend on the innovation of factors in order to survive within the market.
A pertinent observation on innovation theory and how it affects communication and control systems within companies is also necessary. Before the new millennium, immediate communication was somewhat difficult to introduce in companies. With the new communication resources, a more efficient market and a more direct relationship between clients and companies can be expected.
The collaborative economy is another point to consider, with the new facilities for communication the service sector is being transformed. Before, a large company was required to allocate investments in different fields. Currently each individual can offer their means of production to carry out a job and the platform only derives its income from the means of production.
Another branch necessary to observe is the need to integrate environmental processes into the logic of production. With the failed green revolution in Mexico many of the ideas that could potentially become strengths that direct the power of action towards a better relationship with nature and ecosystems are lost.
The future tends to make the workforce more flexible, but also that of companies. The evolution of technology also greatly affects the way in which the human being develops in his work and in his personal life. Management theories must focus on how companies can grow in new environments and find new ways to enter the global economy.
References:
- About. (s / f). Retrieved on January 29, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/about/About Daniel Goleman. (s / f). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://www.danielgoleman.info/biography/Bio - Bill Gates. (s / f). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from https://www.gatesnotes.com/globalpages/bioClayton Christensen. (2013, August 21). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/clayton-christensen/Daniel Pink. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 29, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/daniel-pink/Don Tapscott. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/don-tapscott/The double meaning of the word "guru" - Yoga on the Net. (S / f). Retrieved on January 29, 2016, from http: //www.yogaenred.com / 2013/09/16 / the-double-meaning-of-the-word-guru / Gary Becker, the great economist of human behavior. (2014, May 10). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://www.elmundo.es/economia/2014/05/10/536a5b1f22601d314e8b4587.html guru - English-Spanish Dictionary - WordReference.com. (s / f). Retrieved on January 29, 2016, from http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=guruHerminia Ibarra. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 29, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/herminia-ibarra/Institute, TD (s / f). Peter Drucker's Life and Legacy - The Drucker Institute. Retrieved from http://www.druckerinstitute.com/peter-druckers-life-and-legacy/Linda Hill. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http: // thinkers50.com / biographies / linda-hill / Marshall Goldsmith. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/marshall-goldsmith/Michael Porter. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/michael-porter/Peter Senge and the learning organization. (2013, February 16). Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/peter-senge-and-the-learning-organization/Rita McGrath. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 29, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/rita-mcgrath/Roger Martin. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http://thinkers50.com/biographies/roger-martin/Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne. (2013, August 22). Retrieved on January 30, 2016, from http: // thinkers50.com / biographies / w-chan-kim-renee-mauborgne /
