Page 130 - merged.pdf

•110 The 100 Greatest Business Ideas of All Time

based on a task to be performed in order to attain the company’s objectives … the
manager should be directed and controlled by the objectives of performance rather
than by his boss.’

While The Practice of Management has had its detractors, including a real trashing
by Tom Peters, it speaks practically about, for example, the number of layers of
management for any organisation never needing to exceed seven.

Turning to the manager of the future, writing over 40 years ago, we can see the
prescience of the ‘seven new tasks’ for tomorrow’s managers. They must:

‘1 manage by objectives
‘2 take more risks and for a longer period ahead
‘3 be able to make strategic decisions
‘4 be able to build an integrated team, each member of which is capable of manag-

ing and measuring his own performance and results, in relation to the common
objectives
‘5 be able to communicate information fast and clearly
‘6 be able to see the business as a whole and to integrate his function with it –
traditionally a manager has been expected to know one or more functions but
this will no longer be enough
‘7 be knowledgeable – traditionally a manager has been expected to know a few
products or one industry – this, too, will no longer be enough.’

Drucker re-evaluated some of his conclusions later, but The Practice of Management
was complete enough to act as the foundation for many of the developments in
management thinking in subsequent years.