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.

Bonazzi, 1982, Dentro e fuori della fabbrica, pp. 42-53; 72-75 e 84-92; 117-122 e 130-140; 142-165
Bondioli M., Zan L, 2026, “L’ultima riforma dell’officina delle meraviglie. Il Piano Meccanico, Economico, Materiale e Politico degli Inquisitori dell’Arsenale di Venezia (1782-1792)”, WP.
Carmona, S., Ezzamel, M., and Gutierrez, F. (1997), “The Spanish Royal Tobacco Factory,” Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 22, No. 5, July: 411-446.
Crawford R., Bailey M. (2019), “Cousins Once Removed? Revisiting the Relationship between Oral History and Business History”, Enterprise and Society, Volume 20 (1), pp. 4 – 18.
Ford (H.), La mia vita e il mio lavoro, 2022 (ed orig 1922), pp67-77
McCallum, 1855, Superintendent report
Mintzberg, "Pianificazione e strategia", cap 1 da Ascesa e declino della pianificazione strategica, (e dori 1994)
Thomson, A. 2001. The case for management history. Accounting, Business & Financial History, 11(2): 99-115.
Tourish D., 2019, "The Triumph of Nonsense in Management Studies", Academy of Management Learning & Education, 19 (1): 99-109
Williams & Deal, 2025, “Prospecting origin stories: the intellectual roots of management education prefacing origin stories”, Journal of Management History, 2025, n3, pp. 437
Witzel M., 2021, Why management history matters, Global Focus, Vol. 15 02
Wren, D. A. 2009 (6th edition). The evolution of management thought. New York: Wiley. Cap. 11 e cap 12 (pp. 95-99)
Zan L., 2006, “Il ‘discorso del maneggio’. Conversazione sulla gestione dell’Arsenale alla fine del ‘500”, in Zan L., Rossi F., Zambon S., Il Discorso del maneggio. Pratiche gestionali e contabili all’Arsenale di Venezia, 1580-1643, Il Mulino
Zan L., Ferri P., Baskakova E. (2025), “Bridging management, organizational, and accounting history with the industrial heritage debate”, Accounting History, Vol 30 (2), pp. 239-264.
Zappa, Tendenze nuove negli studi di ragioneria, 1926

Oral exam.
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.

written

The instructor is responsible for ensuring the authenticity and originality of all examinations and coursework. In cases of suspected academic misconduct, an additional on-site assessment may be required during the exams, which may differ from the standard format.

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.