Management Education in Historical Perspective - Book Review

Administrative Science Quarterly,  Sept, 2002  by Mark A. Mone

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Lars Engwall and Vera Zamagni, eds. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1998. 177 pp. $59.95.

Management practice and theory development are not typically examined in historical and international contexts simultaneously. Accordingly, the value in this collection stems from the juxtapositioning of American-based graduate programs abroad, specifically Master's of Business Administration (MBA) programs, with the European political, ideological, societal, and religious milieu throughout the twentieth century. Except for two chapters, the selections in this book chronicle key developments in postwar education in Europe. The authors are internationally based, contributing to the diverse perspectives represented in the selections.

In their overview chapter, Engwall and Zamagni describe historical issues that set the stage for the book's chapters. They first review briefly the course of management thinking and developments in business education (e.g., accounting), including the influence of Catholicism ,in the 1300-1800s. They then focus in more detail on key developments of management education "frontrunners" in Europe and the U.S. from 1852 to 1912. One anchor that much of the book references is established next: the development and considerable expansion of U.S. business schools between the First and Second World Wars. It is this substantial growth and its effects on European business schools, primarily, and European management practice, to a lesser extent, that motivate the various book chapters.

Engwall and Zamagni frame the book around four key themes, each of which is represented as various European countries adopted "the American model": resistance to the American model, the American model as a challenge to university education, the American model changing a German model, and the late adoption of the American model. A thesis emerging from this discussion--and permeating the book--is that the American model of business education training, despite its detractors, has become, at least to some extent, homogenized, adapting to local cultures and contexts as it has been promulgated in Europe.

In subsequent chapters, management educational developments are covered in Nordic countries (Lars Engwall), Britain (Francesca Fauri and Nick Tiratsoo), Germany (Heinz-Dieter Meyer and Matthias Kipping), and Italy (Francesca Fauri and Giuliana Gemelli). American perspectives are provided by Jacqueline McGlade, who describes contributions of postwar exports of U.S. management education to Western Europe, and by Robert Locke, who critically analyzes the effects of U.S. management models and business schools abroad. Standing thematically somewhat apart, the chapter by Tamotsu Nishizawa examines pre- and postwar management education in Japan.

The book is largely descriptive, drawing from historic events. My sense is that readers will find several areas in the book of interest. Notable topics include, for example, (1) Meyer's accounting of the tension between industrial and political leaders supportive of formal business training and the constraining role of then-extant university academic disciplines and certain societal strata in Germany in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; (2) Kipping's description of similar themes in postwar Germany, in addition to his documentation of different forms of resistance that have been overcome sufficiently to allow the expansion of American-styled universities; (3) the pervasive theme of tensions between existing management training in industry and education versus that seen as imported from the U.S.--and the necessary adaptation of this model in different countries over different periods; (4) McGlade's chronicling of European students attending American business programs in the 1950s through 1990-1991; and ( 5) Locke's critical perspective of the impact of U.S. management models and business school training. Locke, echoing themes from his 1996 work, is provocative, raising such questions as "Have business schools actually harmed management?" and "Did American graduate schools of management and their MBAs have anything to do with the creation initially of the reputation of American management?"

From an evaluative perspective, this book examines topics of importance to the history of management education development. While organization theories, per se, are not examined, the book explores the underlying ideological, political, societal, religious, legal, and financial determinants of institutions in which business and management theory is developed and applied. Given the history of developments influencing management education in the sample of European countries and Japan described in this book, the reader gains insights into the specific effects, broad influences, and venerable nature of the U.S. management education model. At the same time, the model's limitations, both in terms of boundary conditions and the seeming rejection of the model, are given exposure. In these contexts, the book has value and is insightful in origin. Indeed, I think a similar treatment of this topic in multiple Asian countries would also make a welcome addition to the literature.