When Good Management Isnt Enough: The Story Of A Czech Business In The Twentieth Century

Abstract

We teach management as a rational process: if you conscientiously apply the concepts learned, you will succeed.  However, for this equation to work certain underlying factors must be in place.  No matter how well prepared managers may be, events unfold around them that profoundly affect their organizations.  We may take the basic infrastructure of democratic capitalism for granted when we teach management education, but it doesn’t hurt to remind our students occasionally that these ‘givens’ aren’t always there.  By teaching our students to appreciate how remarkable is the achievement of democratic capitalism, will we be more likely to protect it and perhaps even improve upon it.