Origins of Management Education: A Historical Analysis of the Four Principles of Management

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to map the antecedents and precursory frameworks to the four principles of management. Moreover, a description of its codification and coalescence as a unified framework is provided, which critically reviews key theoretical underpinnings of management principles found in academic research and management textbooks. Design/methodology/approach: A historiographic approach reviewed seminal works for theory origins of the four principles of management, by analyzing 260 management textbooks from 1935 to 2013 to document their adoption in management education. This study employed critical hermeneutics (Prasad, 2002) to explore the framework’s progression by providing the context of cultural, political, and economic influences. Findings: This research study tracked and mapped the creation of the four principles of management as it became the commonly accepted framework in management education. Today, every predominant Management Principles textbook utilizes the four-principle framework – plan, lead, organize, control - as the basis for teaching students the rudiments of managerial duty. Originality: Through a critical analysis into the formation of the four principles of management, this research not only provides a historical account of its construction, but as importantly, the influencing factors that led to its development. This research fills a gap in critical literature as a post mortem exegesis has never been conducted on the four-principle framework in the after-years of its amalgamation. Research limitations/implications: There is limited research on the application of the four-principle framework in contemporary management, despite its ubiquity in management education. Our historical account of its formation provides insights into its adoption and utilization in modern education context. The primary limitation of the study design derived from the lack of access to every management textbook in the study period (1917-2013). However, data saturation was achieved for the scale of textbooks and writings which was reviewed.