Because it is difficult—if not impossible—to understand contemporary management theory and practice without an appreciation of its historical heritage, this new one-stop reference resource from Routledge allows students and researchers readily to access the subject’s major works to enable a full and contextualized comprehension of the evolution of business and management thought.

The four-volume collection opens with a selection of readings (‘Beginnings’) that set the stage for the advent of modern management. The materials assembled in the succeeding sections examine and explore the writings and lives of Frederick W. Taylor (generally credited as the founding father of scientific management) and the other individuals who were central figures in the development of management thought as an independent, scientific discipline.

The gathered selections are drawn from a body of literature that emerged in the late 1880s and continued through the 1970s. They tell the story of management thought in its formative and post-partum stages. As such, the collection’s editor avers, ‘they establish a historical baseline for appreciating the continuing development of management theory across time; provide a historical perspective for understanding the present state of management theory; institute an intellectual baseline for appreciating future developments in management theory; create a historical foundation to aid in framing questions for the teaching, research, and practice of management; and provide a conceptual framework for building and integrating the field of management’.