The Management Myth: Management Consulting Past, Present & Largely Bogus

By Matthew Stewart

Book Overview

In The Management Myth, Stewart offers:

An insightful romp through the entire history of thinking about management, with memorable sketches of Frederick Winslow Taylor, Elton Mayo, Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, and other management celebritiesA devastating critique of pseudoscience in management theory, from the scientific management movement to the contemporary disciplines of strategy and organizational behaviorA swashbuckling account of the rise and much-anticipated fall of management consulting, laced with personal tales about cryptic PowerPoint presentations; the bait-and-hold techniques that keep clients paying to be told what they already know; and the colorful internal politics at his own ill-fated consulting firm, where rivals for power found imaginative uses for an in-house shrinkHistorical perspective on why so many CEOs make so much more than they deserveA clear explanation of why the MBA usually amounts to so much BS

With wit and wisdom, Stewart makes an electrifying case that the questions and insights of management theorists belong not to the sciences but to philosophy, and that, in the final analysis, "a good manager is nothing more or less than a good and well-educated person."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393065537
• ISBN13: 9780393065534
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Takedown of the Cult of Management and Strategy

I just finished this outstanding book. It has been on my list since I read the rave WSJ and New Yorker reviews this past fall. It's a brilliant history of management thought dating back to Taylor and scientific management. It is also a highly critical take down of the management consulting industry that relies on hilarious anecdotes from the author's career in management consulting. For what its worth, I want to mention that this is not what I would call a "subversive" book as it pertains to many companies. While not the book's focus, it is supportive of companies and individuals that eschew the flash and sizzle of Strategy (with a capital S) and Management (with a capital M.) My favorite quote: "What makes for a good manager? If we put all of their heads together, the great management thinkers at the end of the day give us the same, simple, and true answer. A good manager is someone with a facility for analysis and an even greater talent for synthesis; someone who has an eye both for the details and for the one big thing that really matters; someone who is able to reflect on the facts in a disinterested way, who is always dissatisfied with pat answers and the conventional wisdom, and who therefore takes a certain pleasure in knowledge itself; someone with a wide knowledge of the world and an even better knowledge of the way people work; someone who knows how to treat people with respect; someone with honest, integrity, trustworthiness, and the other things that make up character; someone in short, who understands oneself and the world around us well enough to know how to make it better. By this definition of course, a good manager is nothing more or less than a good and well-educated person." This is a thoroughly entertaining and stimulating read. I feel ashamed that I have read the work of some of the management gurus excoriated in this book.

A much neglected problem

With forty years of management experience, I was gratified to see someone, finally, addressing the problem. The implications are much broader than Stewart suggests. I can understand that some readers will not care for the narrative about Stewart's personal experience, but I think the context is important and it is better to have it then not to have it. Bravo to Stewart in any case. His book is, hopefully, only the beginning of a critically needed discussion.

Fresh, well-written and insightful

Stewart is spot-on. He knows his subject inside & out. Book has a good, critical review of the history of "management science" and management consulting. He is very well-read (being a Philosophy grad) and can bring a broad perspective to the management story. His views are well researched, so he has a right to criticize "management science" for its lack of a substantial experimental basis. For a serious book, it's a fast read - amusingly written.

Don't let your MBA students read this book ...

... because if they read it, they may quit your program. As a university professor guiding MBA and Doctor of Management courses, I encourage only my more capable and thoughtful students to read "The Management Myth." Why? It is because in this book, Matthew Stewart correctly points out and supports that management is not a science and is too often pursued as a fad. Using many examples, he convinces that a good person educated in almost any subject can be a successful manager in business. Plainly said, Bill Gates, a college dropout, is not an aberration. What is needed to be a manager, Stewart says astutely, is critical thinking and a propensity to ethical behavior -- not some knowledge of whatever methods are in current vogue at business schools. If you want to know more of how to achieve success in business and other organizations, and you can accept innovative thinking, read "The Management Myth."

The Truth Be Told

I loved this book. Finally someone stood up and stated the obvious: the science of business management is a sham. I have spent 21 years in the private sector working for large, publicly held companies. I will even admit to working on my MBA here and there along the way. Through the years I've been through several consultant engagements. They had various names such as "process re-engineering", or "management by numbers". Regardless of the consulting firm involved, the tactics were the same: use statistically skewed spreadsheets to scare top management, then cut customer service to temporarily shore up the bottom line. In the process dehumanize the employees until half quit, then call it a job well done. I have often sat in the back of the room during a consultant informational session and thought "let's bring in a village witch doctor or an astrologer as long as we are at it." Since top management is usually out of ideas and fearful by the time they bring in a consultant, any dissent is an invitation to gather your desk possessions and follow security to the door. So you sit there and let the absurdity happen, hoping one day someone will have the guts to tell the truth. That is exactly what Mr. Stewart has done in this book. His background information on Taylor and Mayo style time study methods was most interesting, establishing the framework for most management methods followed to this day. In the process the author brutally exposes the flawed or nonexistent science involved in such studies. Mr. Stewart is a great writer: funny, enlightening, insightful, and engaging. I have read most of the popular business and economic books of the last 15 years. This is one of the best. I highly recommend it.