The Origin And Development Of Management And Management Education From Mid 19～(th) Century To 20～(th) Century

When people compare the current situation of China with that of a-century-ago U.S.A., it can be surprisingly found many similarities: corporate structure adjustment, the start of the integration of mass production and mass distribution, the spread of chain stores, and the triggering merger & acquisition. Taking a glance of current America, the culture of free entrepreneurship, healthy law system, comprehensive intermediary agency service, multi-level capital market continue to serve as the drive to pull America economy out of recession. There are many differences, which are demonstrated as they are shown, between the two countries. What the thesis does here is to try to find out the origin of the management hierarchy and its concomitant product, management education.The thesis explores the origin and evolution of management education in the development of American business from mid 19th century to 20th century. And it set forth that the management education is the product of the development of American business, illustrating the origin of modern managerial enterprises from the first establishment of American big business - railroad in 1850s to expanding managerial enterprise in 1970s, and further assumes that the development of management is and will be shaped by the new trends in American economy. In the late nineteenth century the management of business enterprise was being recognized as a crucial factor in the national welfare and a demanding function for its practitioners. The concept of management as distinct career of work and field of learning was emerging, and with it a new managerial class within the social structure. As a consequence some universities and business leaders saw the need for special kinds of education that were not provided by the classical liberal arts and natural sciences programs. In 1881 the university of Pennsylvania established the Wharton School of Commerce and Finance. Gradually, more of the nation's most prestigious universities - among them Harvard, Dartmouth, and the universities of Chicago and California - set up schools or courses of business administration to train managers. As the century moved on, major changes in structure and operations in business trends, such as mergers and acquisitions, foreign ownership of U.S. business, globalization of business, the rise of entrepreneurship, growth of the service economy, the boom of computer technology etc., many critics see as healthy and constructive, and believe that they should be permanent revolution. Business schools have to respond to the changes by adjusting themselves. The balancing of curriculum between depth and breadth of the courses, the profile of the students/graduates, and the research/scholarship toward applied science more closely related with business community will be examined in details to show the development of management education. And executive education program will be analyzed, as the typical example of business schools' strong commitment to meet corporate needs. The thesis aims to demonstrate the preposition that the management education is the product of the development of American business, and that its development is and will be shaped by the new trends in American economy. To achieve this end it focuses on the rise of modern business enterprise and the emerging of preliminary management education. The thesis also links the appearance of modern business enterprise and management education by the interaction between them, thus further go deep end of impacts that business development gave on the evolution of management education in 20th century.