HISTORY OF MANAGEMENT

Coerentemente con gli obiettivi del corso di laurea triennale in Economia aziendale, il corso intende fornire conoscenza e comprensione della evoluzione storica del management inteso come storia delle pratiche prima che storia del pensiero; e nelle condizioni di affermazione di quest’ultimo in chiave essa stessa storicamente ‘locata’.

Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge and understanding of the historical evolution of management in its many meanings.

Ability to apply knowledge
Ability to identify the constituent elements of management in the long term, beyond the presentism and fads that can be observed today.
Ability to interpret historical cases as an element of problematization of management theories.
Ability to understand the historical determinants of the development of managerial knowledge.
Ability to critically historicize management practices and theories.

Judgment
Ability to judge the conditions and intrinsic limitations of management in different historical contexts, in the face of non-superficial historicizations.

Communication skills
Ability to present research publicly.
Ability to discuss historical problems using knowledge of historically contextualized management practices and theories.
Ability to discuss the validity of empirical interpretations from a historical-critical perspective.

Learning skills
Ability to critically evaluate the soundness and rigor of a text or discourse on management from a historical perspective.

Knowledge of general History at high-school le tl.

In the absence of a strong historical awareness that characterizes management studies, four perspectives represent the defining element of the approach adopted:
1. The history of management as the history of managerial practices, with particular attention to the early stages, to early examples of the affirmation of the discourse of ‘management’ (precisely in Venice, at the Arsenale), and with particular attention to proto-industrial contexts that tend to falsify many of the dominant views on management.

2. The history of management as a history of thought, and specifically a history of fragmentary and local thought, with the existence of different separate traditions: both in a national sense (e.g., the tradition of business economics vs. the American tradition of business & management studies) and in a disciplinary sense (e.g., accounting studies vs. marketing studies).

3. A methodological and sociological reflection on academia that takes into account this situation of fragmented studies and low historical awareness of its own evolution, in the context of the affirmation of the American business school model.

4. A reflection on some research methodologies in the field of management history.

Details on the individual teaching units will be provided at the beginning of the course.

One of the reference texts will undoubtedly be: Cummings S., Bridgman T., Hassard J, Rowlinson M (2017), A New History of Management, Cambridge University Press.

A series of articles will be proposed at the beginning of the course in relation to the detailed lesson plan.

Written assignment with open-ended questions.
The questions aim to assess whether students have acquired the ability to a) place historical events in time; b) use a critical approach to management studies for their interpretation; c) identify the conditions that limit the tendency of management studies to be ahistorical.

Alternatively, students may check with the instructor about the possibility of writing a paper based on archival or field research.

written

With regard to grading (the method by which grades will be assigned), regardless of whether the student is attending or not attending:
A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and applied understanding of the program;
- limited ability to collect and/or interpret data, formulating independent judgments;
- sufficient communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language pertaining to management history;
B. Scores in the range 23-26 will be assigned in the presence of:
- fair knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
- fair ability to collect and/or interpret data, formulating independent judgments;
- fair communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language pertaining to the history of management;
C. Scores in the range 27-30 will be assigned in the presence of:
- good or excellent knowledge and applied understanding of the program;
- good or excellent ability to collect and/or interpret data, formulating independent judgments;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language pertaining to the history of management.
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied understanding of the program, judgment, and communication skills.

Frontal lectures with visual support (slideshow) and class discussion.

Both attending and non-attending students are required to study on all the readings and on the handouts (slides) of the lessons, which will be made available online, using the readings as reference.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Circular economy, innovation, work" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development