Description
The unacknowledged legislators . . .
Shelley once claimed that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of mankind
Today that honour belongs to management theorists. Names such as Drucker and Peters may not have the same ring as Wordsworth or Keats; yet, wherever we look, management theorists are laying down the law, reshaping institutions, refashioning our language and, above all, reorganising people's lives.
Indeed, at its most extreme fringe, where management theory merges with the self-help industry, gurus are actually ordering people's minds, teaching them how to think about everything from organising their desk to reassessing their love-life.
In late 1994 the revelation that Princess Diana had sought help. from Anthony Robbins, a 'business-motivation guru' who encourages his clients to 'unleash the power within' by walking on red hot coals, caused barely a flicker of surprise in Fleet Street.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the simultaneous news that Newt Gingrich, the new speaker-elect of the House of Represen- tatives, was preparing for his new job 'by reading Peter Drucker' was greeted with relief.
At the same time as the Princess and the Speaker were seeking out management theory, millions of more mundane human beings were having it done unto them. Some 43m jobs were eliminated in America in 1979-95 (though many more were created).
In paternalist Germany, 'downsizing' had pushed up unemployment to four million by early 1996- the highest since the Second World War.
In Japan, the home of lifetime employment, temporary and part-time workers now account for one in four of the workforce. . . .
ISBN:9780434004263
