Peter Drucker: life and work of the 'Father of Management'

1.0 Who was Peter Drucker

Peter Ferdinand Drucker was born on November 10, 1909, in

Vienna, Austria, and passed away at the age of 95, in November 2005, in Claremont,

California, USA. Peter was a man who had many professions, among them
from economist, financial analyst, journalist, speaker, consultant, author and
professor. In all these professions, he always lived simply, without
secretary, typing her own letters on a typewriter. Peter never
liked ostentation and luxury, always preferred a simpler and humble life.
He was also a man greatly influenced by various
cultures. Born in Austria (where he stayed until adolescence), he made the
studies in Germany (until the Nazi regime came to power) and worked
in the city of Londrina (until marrying his lifelong partner, Doris
The couple emigrated to the United States when Drucker was
only 26 years old. In the USA, he has always been considered the great
ambassador of European intellectual tradition. As long as health allowed him,
I used to try to travel to Asia every year, especially to Japan - a country whose
culture has always fascinated you and where you still have the largest legion of fans today.

Even though I have always hated the label of 'guru' (which associated with

charlatanism), there is a strong consensus among the academic community and

businesslike about the fact that there is no one else in the world who deserves
to hold such a title. After all, he was the one who invented Management as a discipline and

define the functions of the modern manager. He was one of the rare thinkers who
You can brag about having changed the world with your ideas by inventing concepts.
such as (re)privatizations, management by objectives or decentralization in
companies.
However, Drucker's greatest legacy lies in his ability to
to interpret the present and understand its implications for the future. Drucker
had the ability to glimpse the trends that will bring about changes in
society, in the economy and in businesses. He is responsible for the diagnosis of

"discontinuities" such as the rise of pension funds in capital of

listed companies or the emergence of knowledge workers. It was the
first to alert that workers are the owners of the asset (knowledge)
most precious in today's society that he dubbed "post-capitalist."
Above all, it made Management a serious and respected discipline, and accessible to
millions of people.
In your opinion, management is fundamentally a social science that
dealing with people and whose scope is not limited to the business world (that's why,
the author dedicated several books to the world of non-profit organizations.
Despite all these contributions, Peter Drucker, with his proverbial
modesty, rejected the title of 'father' of Management.

1.1 Main concepts of Peter Drucker

In your view, Management is a practical and humanistic discipline. It is a

"art" that draws from sciences such as Economics, Psychology, History,
Mathematics, Political Theory and Philosophy, and at the same time it is also a
practice - like Medicine - in the sense that it does not matter if the treatment
It is, or is not, scientific, but indeed it cures the patient.

Peter Drucker stated that the company that could sell the
right product/service, for the right customer, with the proper distribution, for a
appropriate price and at the right moment, I would see your sales efforts
reduce to almost zero, that is, the sale would become automatic based on
that the demand has been correctly equated and addressed.
In the USA, Drucker began his activities as a consultant of
business, in 1942, in his book "The Future of Industrial Man", Drucker analyzes
the development of society in the twentieth century and concluding that society
industrialized had transformed into a "society of organizations."
Drucker was thus interested in the political and social aspect.
of organizations, because those responsible for decisions in these organizations
they exercised social power. This definition did not actually exist yet, the
Those responsible for management should only supervise and demand results.
of your subordinates, following the defined division of labor and hierarchy
forTaylorDrucker was also interested in large corporations that
existed at the time, as a consequence of this and his first book, he was invited
pela General Motors, naquele tempo a maior empresa do mundo, para realizar
a social and political analysis of the company. For two years, Drucker participated
of meetings of the governing body, analyzing the decision-making and the
production processes. Conducted numerous interviews with members of the upper management.

management, managers, and factory floor work.

In 1946, the results of this research were published in the book
Concept of the Corporationin which the multidivisional structure became popular
from GM, leading Drucker to produce numerous articles and books on the subject and
also carry out several consultancies. Drucker was interested in the growing
effect in the time of knowledge workers, that is, people who
they worked more with their minds than with their hands. Their experience at GM,
made Drucker create a theory of how a company should be
organized and managed.
For almost half a century, Peter Drucker has inspired and educated managers
from all over the world. One of our greatest thinkers on practice and the
In his study of management, Drucker sought, identified, and examined the issues.
more important than the challenges faced by managers, from corporate strategy to
managerial style and social changes. One of the concepts he advocated was that the
the company's greatest asset was its employees.
Peter Drucker accomplished many deeds and left his legacy for the
the current modern administration process, however, can be summarized in these:
Explained how to manage the large corporation.
americano);
It ensured that management could be learned, that it was not exclusive to
people who could be called "geniuses" or "enlightened";
Redesigned the role of the 'entrepreneur', the most
important in the innovation of the economic sector.

Revealed the emerging society of our century, based on

knowledge
Gave nobility to management in all types of non-profit organizations.
profitable.
 Peter Drucker in one of his books, titled 'Practice of Management'
of the Company”, made a reference and a sort of forecast for Brazil
for more than 20 years, but which remains valid today:

In the last twenty-five years, that is, throughout life

professional of the men who today run the companies
Brazilian – large and small; private, mixed or public -
The country has transformed more than any other on the planet.
...

“ Na próxima década, o administrador brasileiro irá se ver

in the face of unprecedented demands and opportunities. And of
a whole new generation of young people will enter their
administrative careers.

(DRUCKER, Practice of Management; special preface, pages IX and X)

1.2 The 10 Lessons of Peter Drucker

After years and years, books and more books, Drucker leaves 10
essential lessons that must be learned in order to have a business of
Success is being a manager with quality and excellence.

In strategic management, efficiency is important, but effectiveness is

vital.

2. Defending yesterday, that is, not innovating, is riskier than doing the
tomorrow.

One must learn to see the social, technological, and economic changes.
demographics as opportunities and not as threats.

4. The most successful entrepreneurs I have met have always been

humble men and women, who were aware that the success of
today can be the failure of tomorrow and vice versa

5. Innovation is work. Systematic, deliberate, and disciplined actions are the

that truly lead a company to progress.
6. Never mix administrative units with entrepreneurial units.

7. Marketing research is a tool that can be used to

discover what customers buy, how they buy, and so on.

Simplicity tends towards development, complexity towards disintegration.

9. The entrepreneurial judo always focuses on the market and is driven by

market.

Those who survive tend to evolve.

1.3 Main Literary Works of Peter Drucker

Drucker was a professor of social sciences at Claremont Graduate.

University, California, USA and honorary president of the Drucker Foundation,
wrote many articles and more than 30 books. Below is the list of the most
important:

• The End of Economic Man: The Origins of Totalitarianism (1939)

• The Future of Industrial Man(1942)

• Concept of the Corporation(1945) (A study of General Motors)

• The New Society(1950)

• The Practice of Management (1954)

• America's Next 20 Years (1957)

• Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World

(1959)
• Power and Democracy in America (1961)
• Managing for Results: Economic Tasks and Risk-Taking Decisions
(1964)
• The Effective Executive (1966)

• The Age of Discontinuity(1968)

• Technology, Management and Society (1970)

• Men, Ideas and Politics (1971)

• Management: Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices(1973)
• The Unseen Revolution: How the Pension Fund Came to America(1976)

• An Introductory View of Management (1977)

• Adventures of a Bystander(1979) (Autobiography)

• Song of the Brush: Japanese Painting from the Sanso Collection (1979)

• Managing in Turbulent Times (1980)

• Toward the Next Economics and Other Essays(1981)

• The Changing World of the Executive (1982)

• The Temptation to Do Good(1984)

• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles(1985)

• The Frontiers of Management (1986)

• The New Realities(1989)

• Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Practices and Principles(1990)

• Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond(1992)

• The Post-Capitalist Society(1993)

• The Ecological Vision: Reflections on the American Condition(1993)
• The Theory of the Business (1994)

• Managing in a Time of Great Change (1995)

• Drucker on Asia: A Dialogue Between Peter Drucker and Isao Nakauchi

(1997)
• Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (1998)

• Management Challenges for the 21st Century(1999)

• Managing Oneself(1999)

• The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's

Essential Writings on Management (2001)
• Leading in a Time of Change: What it Will Take to Lead Tomorrow
with Peter Senge)
• The Effective Executive Revised(2002)

• Managing in the Next Society (2002)

• A Functioning Society(2003)

• The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the
Right Things Done(2004)
• The Effective Executive in Action(2005)
1.4 Peter Drucker, according to the perspective of third parties.

Given the importance of this illustrious person for business management and
also for human knowledge, experts and influential people in the field
on administration and entrepreneurship, they give their opinion and comment on
Peter Drucker:

Your intellectual attitude is less that of the prophet than that of the helmsman, that is,
try to understand and anticipate a change that cannot be controlled, in order to

better at driving in rough currents.

Mário Murteira, retired full professor of Economics, director of

Global Economy & Management magazine, was a minister in three governments and author of

several books on Economics.

I knew all too well the surprises, disguises, and twists of the game.

business. He had a clear idea of the true role of the manager. For him, the
The manager is the dynamic and vital element of any and all companies.

Rubens Fava, professor at UniFAE University Center, Curitiba, Brazil,

graduated in Economics and Administration.

Management by objectives is attributed to Peter Drucker and his work The

Practice of Management. In Portuguese public administration its effect does not
it was so sudden and even today it is being felt.

João Bilhim, full professor of human resource management, president

of the Board of Directors of ISCSP of the Technical University of Lisbon

Drucker said that there are no underdeveloped countries, but poorly managed ones. It's another

there is no way to say that there are no competitive countries without competitive companies,

thirty years before this phrase became popular.

Jorge Vasconcellos e Sá, master's degree from the Peter Drucker Graduate School of

Management and PhD in Management from Columbia University, author

of 13 books on management
 The importance of Drucker is such that there have even been jokes made about it.

with the same:

Marketing Prayer

Peter Drucker who art in heaven

Blessed be Philip Kotler
Come to us the Porter matrix
Seja feita a análise SWOT e os 4P´s
Just like the ANSOFF, the ROI and the Pay-back

The increase in market share we gain each day today

Forgive those who do not know MKT and have offended us
And do not let us fall into customer participation
But deliver us from the lack of creativity, ethics, and innovation

Amen!

2.0 Bibliography

DRUCKER, Peter F. Management of Nonprofit Organizations.

Principles and practices. São Paulo, Thomson, 1994.

DRUCKER, Peter [Link]ção. São Paulo, Pioneira, 1975.

DRUCKER, Peter [Link]ção lucrativa. Rio de Janeiro, Zahar Editores,

1977.

DRUCKER, Peter F. Practice of business administration. São Paulo,

Thomson, 2002.
3.0 Webography

[Link]/[Link]/2007/08/peter-drucker-the-greatest-guru-of-
administration/, accessed in June 2008.

[Link]/marina/[Link] in June 2008

[Link]/drucker/[Link], accessed in June of

2008.

[Link] acessado em Junho de 2008.

[Link]/[Link]?ID=116577accessed in June 2008.

[Link] accessed on
June 2008.

[Link]/manageme/[Link], accessed in June 2008