Why learn about the history of management?

If you were asked to list the most innovative companies in the world today, it is likely that you’d put Amazon near the top of that list. Do you remember the buzz generated when Amazon announced that it would be applying for the necessary permits to deliver packages by drone? Likewise, it is an amazing sight to enter an Amazon distribution center and see the carefully choreographed dance as humans and robots work together to fill customer orders. Amazon is at the cutting edge of modern business.

Now ask yourself, could there possibly be any similarities between managing a modern technology company like Amazon and managing the large industrial steel companies that dominated U.S. industry in the late 1800s and into the turn of the twentieth century?

What might surprise you is the answer: yes! What you will learn during this module as you study the history of management is that many principles developed during the Industrial Revolution are still in practice in today’s Information Revolution. Pay close attention as you study these historical concepts of management and relate them to your experiences and studies of successful businesses today. The similarities may astonish you.