Management in History
Hey! Another post is about evolution of management throughout the centuries. Management has been practiced a long time. Organized endeavors directed by people responsible for planning, organizing, leading, and controlling activities have existed for thousands of years. Let’s look at some of the most interesting examples.

The Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China are proof that projects of tremendous scope, employing tens of thousands of people, were completed in ancient times. It took more than 100,000 workers some 20 years to construct a single pyramid. Who told each worker what to do? Who ensured that there would be enough stones at the site to keep workers busy? The answer is managers. Someone had to plan what was to be done, organize people and materials to do it, make sure those workers got the work done, and impose some controls to ensure that everything was done as planned.

Another example of early management can be found in the city of Venice, which was a major economic and trade center in the 1400s. The Venetians developed an early form of business enterprise and engaged in many activities common to today’s organizations. For instance, at the arsenal of Venice, warships were floated along the canals, and at each stop, materials and riggings were added to the ship. Sounds a lot like a car “floating” along an assembly line, doesn’t it? In addition, the Venetians used warehouse and inventory systems to keep track of materials, human resourcemanagement functions to manage the labor force (including wine breaks), and an accounting system to keep track of revenues and costs.

Starting in the late eighteenth century when machine power was substituted for human power, a point in history known as the industrial revolution, it became more economical to manufacture goods in factories rather than at home.These large efficient factories needed someone to forecast demand, ensure that enough material was on hand to make products, assign tasks to people, direct daily activities, and so forth. That “someone” was a manager: These managers would need formal theories to guide them in running these large organizations. It wasn’t until the early 1900s, however, that the first steps toward developing such theories were taken.

These were the three main examples which show the application of managerial skills and start evolution of management.