The Management Myth

A friend forwarded me an article that was published in a recent The Atlantic Monthly (subscription required). Written by a guy name Matthew Stewart, The Management Myth is a clever (but quite smug) article summing up the origins & science of management theory and discussing the values of management practices (or management consulting).

His entree is: "Most of management theory is inane, writes our correspondent, the founder of a consulting firm. If you want to succeed in business, don’t get an M.B.A. Study philosophy instead."

That's an extreme statement, and one that probably bothers a number of folks, but the article takes a pretty unique approach to explaining why Stewart believes such is true. Paul Kedrosky takes a jab at Stewart (he obviously doesn't like the angle), but doesn't really offer much else other than a personal attack. Nick Carr, a fellow management consultant, has a different opinion. I tend to agree with Carr and Stewart.