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From: aauerbac@mach1.wlu.ca (alan auerbach F)
Subject: Re: Origins of "management"
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Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 13:44:02 GMT
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An interesting question, Fernando.  I'll try to help.

First, the concept.  Management principles were obviously at work
in the earliest cultures.  The Great Wall of China, or the Pyramids
could not have been built without discipline, organization and leadership.

Next, the terms.
"Manufacture" and "factory" derive, ironically, from manus facere, to 
make by hand.  With the wide adoption of factories in the 1700s,
someone had to organize and plan.  Some bosses were called "managers";
others "factors."  The latter term simply gave way to the former.

The French took a different route.  Their "gestion" (which is indeed
their word for management) derives from the earthy concept of bearing,
as in babies.  We use "gestate" similarly, and one meaning of "gesture"
is the signs a boss might make.


Alan Auerbach, Assoc. Prof.	Industrial/Organizational Psychology
email: aauerbac@mach1.wlu.ca    24-hr voicemail: (519) 884-0710, x2312
mail: WLU, Waterloo, ON		phone: (519) 884-1970, x2312
      Canada N2L 3C5		fax: (519) 746-7605	
