General management: back to the future

Abstract

This article examines the role and function of the general manager in the light of historical evidence which suggests that general management may be an integral part of the Western way of doing business. Although management as a discipline is relatively recent in origin, management as a function is probably as old as organised business itself. The paper suggests that the development of management as a function coincided with the rise of scientific thinking, leading to undue emphasis on scientific management; more recently the pendulum has swung back the other way, but there is a lack of consensus about both the nature of general management and the best way of developing general managers. The paper suggests that revisiting the principles of general mananagement as they developed historically can provide insights into the role and character of the general manager.