Capitalist Philosophers: The Geniuses of Modern Business -- Their Lives, Times, And Ideas

by Andrea Gabor

Perhaps nothing has shaped the American century more than the emergence of management as a discipline in the corporate workplace. In The Capitalist Philosophers, Andrea Gabor explores this phenomenon by profiling the personalities and ideas of the most influential management thinkers of the 20th century. Among those that Gabor writes about are Robert S. McNamara, the former Secretary of Defense and pioneering bean counter at Ford Motor; Peter F. Drucker, the "big idea man" and guru to giants such as General Electric; W. Edwards Deming, the late star of the "quality movement"; and Mary Parker Follett, an early advocate of collaborative management. One of the many threads that hold together Gabor's profiles is the issue of "two seemingly irreconcilable visions of management--the scientific and humanistic." She writes that humanists see the corporation "as a pivotal institution of democracy with complex responsibilities to a host of constituencies, including its employees, its customers, and the community. The other, much more utilitarian, view recognizes one corporate constituent--the shareholder--and a single purpose--profit making." The Capitalist Philosophers is for anyone seeking a sweeping, well-written history of American business. It's also a rich look at the philosophical underpinnings of newer management approaches that are rolling through the workplace today, such as re-engineering and Six Sigma. --Dan Ring

Genres: Philosophy, Business, History, Economics, Politics, Nonfiction

Hardcover

Reviews

[Peter Talbot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, inciteful and insightful and often entertaining survey of major economic and business thinkers active in 20th Century America. A bit dated being published in 2000 for several reasons: an overly positive handling of Peter Drucker as a futurist; a progressive historian's faith in an improving world that seems more than a little naïve today; a rather uncritical view of the corporation as such in light of treatments of GE, Du Pont, GM, IBM, etc. through various consultancies. That said, this book puts a lot of critical business thought (Taylorism, Deming's TQM, Maslow's hierarchies, Simon's satisfices, et al in one place for reference. Useful, especially given how little this stuff is usually covered "panoptically" in texts and media. Could use a re-vision with inclusion of more recent thinkers and a bit less "conclusion". Recommended reading, even sampling!

[Matt Reynaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent historical examination of the relationship between worker-management-organizations

[Barry Beaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have re read again, have given away previous copies, a review of all thoughts on how modern management and capitalist thought has arrived at the place it is today.
More a reference book than a book to read from in sequence. If managers actually read why their policies are shaped the way they are perhaps there would be better application. Amusing in the way that pseudo science becomes reality.

[Dax · Rating 5 out of 5]

I completely forget what this book is about, but remember liking it a lot.