How not to run a business

Abstract

Until recently nobody was foolish enough to challenge the manager's right to manage, which essentially means to make executive decisions. Because this right was never questioned, no one bothered to ask from whom it was conferred. It was a bit like the divine right of kings, assumed to come from somewhere above. But managerial prerogative has been sorely tested of late. The amount of authority a manager can exercise is the amount of authority which those over whom he is responsible allow him to exercise. So every manager is exhorted to adopt a participative style and in the process is trying to find out, in his own situations, exactly what industrial democracy and joint consultation mean.

Citation

Cooper, B. (1974), "How not to run a business", Education + Training, Vol. 16 No. 9, pp. 235-236. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb001832