ts - inputs. The key question then becomes: "What is the objective toward which we are working?" Expressed differently, Drucker saw management that concentrated on processes - rather than goals - as inadequate to meet today's challenges from foreign and domestic competition. Process-oriented management, dating back to Adam Smith's 1776 volume The Wealth of Nations and extending beyond Frederick W. Taylor to the Hawthorne studies in this century, was adequate for that 150-year span. Old-time managers were expected to learn the ins and outs of a business and to keep people busy. MBO shifts the focus to goals, to the purpose of the activity, rather than the activity itself. The operative question shifts from "What am I supposed to do?" to "What is the objective toward which I am working?"
In other words, anyone expecting that MBO will present managers with a virtual or literal blueprint for
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