Published by Renmin University of China Press, September 2016, 440 thousand words

Management is both an art and a science. It is an art because the master and application of management concept is closely related to the gift and experience of the individual manager, while it is a science because the inherent regularity can be explored from no matter which perspective.

Management officially appeared since Tyler’s The Principles of Scientific Management published in 1911. For the past century, management played a great role in the economic and social development. In the different historical background, management ideologies and schools were different. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Classical Scientific School of Management and Organization Management emerged under the influence of the Second Industrial Revolution. In 1930s and 1940s, interpersonal relationship was attached great importance, therefore Behavioral Science Management and Cooperative Social System prevailed. In 1950s, with the end of World War Ⅱ, the Empirical School, Decision Theory School and Leadership Theories appeared. In 1960s, to meet the requirements of the society, various schools brought forth new thoughts, thus arose several schools including Strategic Management, Marketing Management, Contingency Theory School, System School, and Scientific Management School. In 1970s, Managerial Role School emerged with further restructure of economy and society. In 1980s, the rise of Japan and the development of science and technology brought about Organizational Cultural School and Future School. Since 1990s, the society enters an era of information and knowledge economy, such theories as Knowledge Management Theory, Innovation Theory, and Business Process Re-engineering Theory sprang out. Now the management study is quite flourishing, all schools of thought contending for attention.

In The Management Century, the author uses the Contextual Map of the Management Century to introduce the lifetime and main thoughts of 80 masters of management, and comment on their enormous impact on the management development process. This book is a favorable approach to understand the history of management and the development of management thoughts.