Peter Drucker

Born in Austria in 1909, Peter F. Drucker published his first book in Germany in 1933. Over his life span, Drucker's publishing credits include more than 40 books, several contributions to anthologies, and more than 165 articles. This paper examines Drucker's works and theories, especially as his works and theories related to management, leadership, and organization.

The research question investigated in this paper is as follows: Are Drucker's approaches to management, leadership, and organization relevant in the twenty-first century? The hypothesis tested in relation to this research question is that Drucker's theories are relevant to organizational management in the early years of the twenty-first century. The thesis of this report is that Drucker's theories remain relevant because they address issues critical to human interaction within organizational environments.

The approach followed in the conduct of the research for this paper includes a summary review of his works and theories, the examination of his major contributions to organizational management, and an assessment of the hypothesis of this report. The "Conclusions and Recommendations" section includes an assessment of Drucker's impact on modern management practice.

Drucker's early works emphasized the role of humans in economic endeavor, industrial structure, corporate governance, and t

. . .
ker (1954) said that, by definition, a manager is responsible for the contribution that his component makes to the larger unit above him. Drucker (1954) meant that the goals of each manager's job must be defined by the contribution he or she has to make to the success of the larger unit of which the manager is a part. One prime characteristic of a management-by-objectives system is that objectives within an organization must be established from the top down. Such a procedure insures that objectives for each organizational unit will be compatible with and will support to objectives of both the next higher organizational unit, as well as the overall objectives of the total organization (Davis, 1999). The objectives established within a management-by-objectives framework perform four essential functions within an organization. These functions are as follows (Drucker, 1954): Provide direction by focusing the efforts of all members of an organizational unit on common goals, as well as upon the goals of the overall organization Serve as motivators by clearly establishing and defining the yardsticks by which performance at each organizational level will be evaluated Contribute to the process of management by enhancing the org
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Approximate Word count = 3251
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

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