Concurrent with the increasing complexity of the field of management, the need to re-examine the foundations from which its theories have advanced has become ever more important and useful. The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists examines and evaluates the contributions that seminal figures, past and present, have made to the theory of management by providing in-depth, up-to-date, and detailed scholarly analysis of their ideas and influence. Chapters by leading management and management history scholars explore the origins of each thinker or school of thought and their ideas, and discuss the significance and influence in a broader framework. The Handbook contextualises each theorist and their theories, analysing their actions, interactions, and re-actions to contemporary events and to each other. It is arranged in three parts: pioneers of management thinking from Frederick Taylor to Chester Barnard; post-war theorists, such as the Tavistock Institute and Edith Penrose; and the later phase of Business School theorists, including Alfred Chandler, Michael Porter, and Ikujiro Nonaka.

This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in how and why management ideas have emerged, and the ways in which they are currently developing and will evolve in the future.

Morgen Witzel's profile page

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Morgen Witzel is a well-known writer and lecturer on management, and one of the world's leading management historians. He is the author of eighteen books on management history, which have been translated into nine languages, and an extensive number of articles, essays, and reviews for various publications. He is currently a Fellow of the Centre for Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter Business School. Malcolm Warner is a retired academic based in Cambridge and London. He is the author of over fifty books on management, many of which have been translated, and many articles, essays, and reviews on the subject. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the International Encyclopedia of Business and Management: vols.1-8 (London: Thomson Learning, 2nd edition, 2002). He is also Co-Editor of the Asia Pacific Business Review. He has, in addition, been a frequent Visiting Academic at many campuses and business schools across the world. He is currently Professor and Fellow Emeritus, Wolfson College, Cambridge and the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.