A landmark study for today's and tomorrow's managers
Shows how modern-day managers can perform effectively
Drucker's most comprehensive text

'...if I were allowed only one book on management to take with me on my desert island, I would certainly take this one.' The Director '..Drucker brings to bear a nimble pen, an agile mind and a rare dose of common sense.' The Daily Telegraph

Born in Vienna in 1909, Peter F. Drucker was educated in Austria and England. From 1929 he was a newspaper correspondent abroad and an economist for an international bank in London. Since 1937 he has been in the United States, first as an economist for a group of British banks and insurance companies, and later as a management consultant to several of the country's largest companies, as well as leading companies abroad. Drucker has since had a distinguished career as a teacher, first as Professor of Politics and Philosophy at Bennington College, then for more than twenty years as Professor of Management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. Since 1971 he has been Clarke Professor of Social Science at Claremont Graduate School in California. In addition to his management books, Peter Drucker is also renowned for his prophetic books analysing politics, economics and society. These books span fifty years of modern history beginning with The End of Economic Man (1939) and including The Practice of Management; Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Managing in the Next Society; Management Challenges in the 21st Century; The Effective Executive and The Essential Drucker.

Preface: Management as profession and commitment; Introduction: Management and manager; Business Performance - The dimensions of management; Managing a business: the Sears story; What is a business?; Business purpose and mission; The power and purpose of objectives; Strategies, objectives, priorities and work assignments; Strategic planning: the entrepreneurial skill; Performance in the service institution - The multi-institutional society; Why service institutions do not perform; The exceptions and their lessons; Managing service institutions for performance; Productive work and achieving worker - The new realities; What we know (and don't know) about work, working and workers; Work and process; Controls and tools; Worker and working: theories and reality; From personnel management to the leadership of people; Social impacts and social responsibilities - Social impacts and social problems; The limits of social responsibility; Business and government; The ethics of responsibility; The manager's work and jobs - Why managers?; Design and content of managerial jobs; Developing management and managers; Management by objectives and self-control; From middle management to knowledge organization; The spirit of performance; Managerial skills - The effective decision; Managerial communications; Controls, control and management; The manager and the budget; The manager and the management sciences; Managerial organization - Structures and strategies; Work- and task-focused design; Result- and relations-focused design; The innovative organization; Top management and board; Organizational conclusions; Conclusion: The manager of tomorrow; Bibliography; Glossary; Index.