's Best of 2001
Ever since his first book was published some six decades ago, Peter Drucker has been essential to everyone serious about the "management of an enterprise (and) the self-management of the individual, whether executive or professional, within an enterprise and altogether in our society of managed organizations." This distinguished 30-year Claremont University professor has continuously identified critical principles in management, economics, politics, and the world in general. And he has redirected our thinking about them through more than two dozen books, including an autobiography and a couple of works of fiction. Now, with The Essential Drucker, he has overseen the compilation of his most important fundamentals into one indispensable book.

Reaching back as far as 1954 with his treatise "Management by Objectives and Self-Control" ("Each manager, from the 'big boss' down to the production foreman or the chief clerk, needs clearly spelled-out objectives" that clarify expected contributions "to the attainment of company goals in all areas of the business"), Drucker's now-established ideas take on a surprising new relevancy when remixed equally pioneering ideas from the 1960s, '70s, '80s, and '90s. Between the thoughtful "Management as Social and Liberal Art" through the provocative "From Analysis to Perception--The New Worldview" (both originally published in 1988's The New Realities), this book revisits some of modern management's most inspired writing and presents it in a way that should appeal to both newcomers and those needing a refresher course on Drucker's basic beliefs. --Howard Rothman


From Booklist
More Drucker! While the prolific nonagenarian and acclaimed management philosopher continues to write--Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999) is his most recent book--he and others have also been busy compiling and summarizing his most noteworthy work. Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (1998) is a collection of 13 significant articles that have appeared in the Harvard Business Review. John Flaherty, in Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind (1999), and Jack Beatty, in The World According to Peter Drucker (1998), both penned biographical portraits and bibliographic essays that are homages to Drucker and his thoughts. Now Drucker himself has picked 26 selections that consist of chapters excerpted from 10 of the 29 books he has written over the past 60 years. His goal is to offer a "coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to Management" and to help those interested in learning more about his ideas determine "which of his writings are [most] essential." David Rouse
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Book Description

Father of modern management, social commentator, and preeminent business philosopher, Peter F. Drucker has been analyzing economics and society for more than sixty years. Now for readers everywhere who are concerned with the ways that management practices and principles affect the performance of the organization, the individual, and society, there is The Essential Drucker -- an invaluable compilation of management essentials from the works of a management legend.

Containing twenty-six selections, The Essential Drucker covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of tomorrow will demand of them.


Download Description
"In one volume a selection of the essential writings from Peter F. Drucker's sixty years of work on management. The first selection of Drucker's management work from The Prctice of Management (1954) to Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999), this book offers, in Drucker's words, ""a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to [and] gives an overview of my works on management and thus answers a question I have been asked again and again: . . . which of my writings are essential?"" The Essential Drucker contains twenty-six selections on management in the organization, management and the individual, and management and society. It covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of ,==otherwise ungrammatical== tomorrow will demand of them. "


Book Info
Covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of tomorrow will demand on them.

FROM OUR EDITORS

"Not to know how to manage," writes Peter Drucker, "is the single largest reason for the failure of new ventures." Anyone who feels a need to learn more about the practice and discipline of management would do well to consult this book, a collection of eloquent and insightful essays that spans the 60-year length of Drucker's career. One of the pleasures of this volume is Drucker's continual emphasis on enduring principles (the importance of structure, the need to develop disagreement) and values (employers must lead rather than manage, focus should remain on the work instead of the personalities that organize it.) One of Drucker's seemingly radical statements -- "The manager is a servant" -- nicely encapsulates much of his philosophy: The institution being managed, the work that needs to be done, the creation of an effective organization -- these are the true masters in any corporate environment.

ANNOTATION

The first selection of Drucker's management work from The Practice of Management (1954) to Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999), this book offers, in Drucker's words, "a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to management [and] gives an overview of my works on management and thus answers a question I have been asked again and again: which of my writings are essential?"

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In one volume a selection of the essential writings from Peter F. Drucker's sixty years of work on management.

The first selection of Drucker's management work from The Practice of Management (1954) to Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999), this book offers, in Drucker's words, "a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to management [and] gives an overview of my works on management and thus answers a question I have been asked again and again: which of my writings are essential?"

The Essential Drucker contains twenty-six selections on management in the organization, management and the individual, and management and society. It covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of tomorrow will demand of them.

SYNOPSIS