MANAGEMENT IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

Chapter 1

Contents
Ancient civilizations

Sumer Egypt Babylonia China Greece India

Ancient Civilizations

The origins of a number of modern management concepts and practices are traceable to ancients. Solomon, the famous biblical ruler, directed the establishment of elaborate trade agreements, construction projects and peace agreements in the tenth century B.C.

Sumer

Some of the earliest documents found in the Sumerian civilization of five thousand years ago, are evidences of managerial control practices. Through their vast tax system, Sumerian temple priests collected and managed tremendous amounts of goods including flocks, revenues and estates. These priests were required to give an account of their stewardship to the chief priest- a managerial control practice.

Sumer (Continued)

Sumerian priests used to manage the wealth and operations of a religious organization. They developed a system of writing or keeping account of all transactions made by many priests in the religious corporation. Because these Sumerian people recognized the need for managerial control, the earliest written documents in the world are the fivethousand-year-old accounts of their inventories.

Egypt

Structure: The building of the pyramids expressed the managerial and organizational abilities of ancient Egypt from 5000 to 525 B.C. Labor of over one hundred thousand men for twenty years required a managerial task of a massive proportions. The managerial concepts and techniques were born for exercising the planning, organizing and control in this undertaking.

Egypt (Continued)

The managerial planning of where the stones to be quarried, when and how to be transported required the practice of long-range planning. Transportation took place during annual flood season to minimize land transport. All blocks were cut to shape and numbered before being put into position.

Egypt (Continued)

Writings: many instances are found in Egyptian literature of management thought, posed as advice from father to his son. The book of instruction of Ptah-hotep was composed in 2700 B.C. It was reedited in 2000 B.C. and it was used in schools in 1500 B.C. The following instructions were recorded:
1. Seek good deeds and avoid wrong deeds 2. Understand that truth is effective and ever lasting 3. Wrong doing never yield desired result 4. Listen as it has therapeutic value

The Egyptian managers recognized the value of planning and staff advice as indicated from the manuscript from a father to his son.

Egypt (Continued)

Government: the study of the Egyptian government through the periods of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and the New Empire recognized the principle of control through a centralized organization. From 2160 to 1788 B.C. the government was highly decentralized and tax commission was the only lie between central government and sub-states. Loose control resulted in revenue loss and the rulers of the New Empire around 1600 B.C. began to recentralizing by means of a military takeover. Egyptians recognized that dispersed holdings requiring a decentralized government was an effective form of managerial organization only if effective central controls were establised.

Egypt (Continued)

Centralization of government was accomplished during the rule of the Hyksos, who drove out the foreign invaders in the provinces and assumed complete control. The Egyptians also recognized the importance of specialization in organization indicating that no tradesman could peruse any trade save that handed down by his parents.

Babylonia
Hammurabi: the Code of Hammurabi was the most significant contribution of the Babylonians to management thought. Hammurabi was the ruler for period between 2000 and 1700 B.C. This code is one of the oldest known codes of law in the world. The experts illustrated about minimum wages, control and responsibility.

Babylonia (continued)

Nebuchadnezzar: Nebuchadnezzar became king in 604 B.C. The textile mills of his period were examples of production control and incentive wage payment. Color was used as a control means for yarn entering the mill each week. Wages were paid in the form of food, the amount depending on the individual production of each worker.

China

The ancient records of Mencious and Chow( 1100 to about 500 B.C) indicate that the Chinese were aware of certain priciples on organizing, planning, directing, and controlling.

China (continued)

Chow: The constitution of chow, written about 1100 B.C. is a directory of all civil servants to the empeor, from the prime minister down to the household servants, with their job and duties. It recorded the following things. Eight things he holds to help the king handle his numerous officers. The first is rank that controls their distinction. The second is emolument that controls their wealth . The third is favor that control their fortune. The fourth is appointment that controls their conduct. The fifth is attention that controls their blessing. The sixth is confiscation that controls their poverty. The seventh is removals that controls their failings . The eighth is death that controls their excessiveness.

China (continued)

Mencius: he believed that laws along were insufficient for business - that every going concern should adhere to a standard of operation which was ordained by the law of God and used as a model for government. Writing about 500 B.C. Mencious clearly indicate the need for system methodology and models in effective management. Sun Tzu: Written about 500 B,C . The art of War by sun Tzu is the oldest military treatise in the world which indicated about planning, organizing and directing.

Greece

The Greeks exhibited a real skill and capacity for management in the operation of trading companies. Greece developed a democratic government with all necessary managerial complication. In the Grecian civilization we find the origin of the scientific method. History became the Greek word meaning search for true knowledge. By questioning all kinds of knowledge and ideas, the Greeks discovered the research point of view and introduce scholarship and science in many spheres.

Greece (continued)

The Greeks developed a new type of city government, the polis which encouraged a free exchange of ideas. The polis provided practice and experience in open discussion and Greeks furnished positive examples of the values of that process which in management is referred as consultation or consultative supervision.

Greece (continued)
Principles of Management The Greeks recognized the principle that maximum output is achieved through the use of uniform methods. This was true for hard, monotonous and repetitive work where time was set by music. Trades were hereditary in Greece and specialization was important. Plato stated in his laws that no man should work in both wood and iron at the same time because of his inability to excel. Plato in his Republic gave the first theory of specialization or the division of labor.

Greece (continued)
Art of Management

The principle of the universality of management was found in a Socratic discourse as recorded by Xenophon. It indicated that, in the fifth century, men were aware that a good manager for a soap company would work equally well as head of an automobile concern or as secretary of defense. Xenophon also clearly indicated that he recognized and believed management to be a separate and distinct art.

India

Kautilya played a dominant part in the establishment, growth and preservation of the Indian Empire during the fourth century B.C. Kautilyas principal work is Arthasastra, the science of policy, written about321 B.C. His major theme is the political, social and economic management of the state. He covered almost every aspects of the theory of government. He discourses on the duties of the king, his ministers and councilors, on council meetings, departments of government, diplomats, war and peace.

India (continued)

He covered the organization and management of trade and commerce, law and law courts, municipal government, social customs, marriage and divorce, rights of women, taxation and revenue, agriculture, mines, and factories, markets, corporations etc. On the administration of an empire, he covered defense of the state, personnel, public works, urban affairs, law and order etc. To Kautilya, the state was an institutional necessity for human advancement.

THANK YOU