Management concepts can be traced back to ancient Egypt and to General Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” in the 6th century BC. Accounting practices also existed since early civilization, but business management as a discipline is a relatively new concept that took hold near the turn of the 20th Century. After Henry Towne and others laid the groundwork for the science of management in the 1890s, early classical management theorists included Frederick Winslow Taylor, who studied workflows and published “The Principles of Scientific Management” in 1911, and Henry Foyal, who developed a functional view of management and published “Administration Industrielle et Générale” in 1916.
Management theories evolved throughout the 20th century, but when recent advancements in accounting disciplines, data collection, and data assessment are added into the mix, the science of business management is at the forefront of a new phase. Early management concepts in the modern era focused on people-centric business processes and later turned to technology as a source for efficiency improvements.
Current management trends fall in the midst of the Information Age, a period when the ability to manage information determines the success of companies. The competitive stakes are growing as corporate management proficiency is accelerating.
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Quote to Note
"A lot of people like to say that risk management is all about having great economic-capital models and value-at-risk models. We've always taken a different attitude. We have those tools, but they're just tools. You don't manage by models; you have to make judgments."
- William J. Wheeler, MetLife Inc.