CHAPTER 1

Management as a Liberal Art

Karen E. Linkletter and Joseph A. Maciariello

We do not know yet precisely how to link the liberal arts and management. We donot know yet what impact this linkage will have on either party—andmarriages, even bad ones, always change both partners.

—Peter F. Drucker"Teaching the Work of Management," New Management

News headlines in late 2008 and early 2009 screamed evidence of the public'sdisenchantment with corporate America. Protestors repeatedly gathered on WallStreet, voicing disgust with the government bailout of the financial sector. AIGexecutives reportedly received death threats after the firm's bonus payoutsbecame public. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched an investigationinto Merrill Lynch's accelerated payment of employee bonuses prior to its mergerwith Bank of America. Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, along with fellowCEOs Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Alan Mulally of Ford, flew to Washington inprivate jets to plead for taxpayer money to rescue the automobile industry,leading many pundits to note how "out of touch with the real world" corporateAmerica had become.

From bloated salaries and unwarranted bonus payments to outright swindles likethat of Bernie Madoff, the public image of American business has taken a beatingin recent months. Fueling this populist ire is a sense that corporations havelost their moral compass; who wants to help a bully that doesn't play by therules? It seems that something is drastically amiss in the boardrooms ofAmerica. Do we have the wrong people leading our organizations? Have they beentrained poorly? Or is it simply, as many have argued, that our brand ofcapitalism breeds greed and lust for power?

Peter Drucker had a great deal to say about the role of power in organizations,as well as the selection and training of effective executives. But his mostpressing concern was that organizations direct their attention to people;organizations must provide human beings with status, function, and a sense ofcommunity and purpose. Viewed in this context, the management of people withinorganizations involves an understanding of human nature and cultural or communalvalues and morals—in Drucker's words, with questions of "good and evil."Although most businesses have some sort of ethics code in their missionstatements, matters of good and evil are perceived as being best left to therealm of theology or philosophy—not the boardroom. Yet Drucker insisted onthe need for values in organizations. This is clear not only in his written workbut also was evidenced by his teaching style and philosophy, as both of uswitnessed in our years of working with him. And, given the state of business'simage in the public's eyes, perhaps it would help to at least raise thequestion: What do managers and executives value and why? If organizations areabout human beings, from where do those human beings derive their values?

One way to begin to address this subject is to take seriously Drucker'sstatement that management is a liberal art. Although he never fully defined thisconcept, it is clear that he envisioned a linkage between the liberal artstradition inherited from Greek and Roman civilizations and the pragmatic, day-to-dayoperations of an organization. One crucial element that links the liberalarts and management is the fostering and maintenance of cultural values.Historically, liberal arts training emphasized the cultivation of beliefs,behaviors, and opinions that were thought by a given civilization to be of highmoral quality (good or right). If management is, as Drucker said, a liberal art,then it must similarly involve the development of shared codes of conduct andbeliefs within an organization. The practical implications of management as aliberal art for today's organizations are far-reaching, and may indeed provide anew blueprint for redeeming corporate America's reputation.

The Liberal Arts: A Historical Tradition

The concept of the liberal arts, from which the term liberal art stems,has a long history. Although the concept originated with the Greeks, the Romans,notably Cicero, used the Latin term artes liberales beginning around thefirst century B.C.E. The definition of a liberal art was a skill or craftpracticed by a free citizen who had the time and means for study; in itsclassical sense, education in the liberal arts was meant for the elite, rulingclasses of society. Liberal arts training, then, meant training citizens to besociety's leaders. Therefore, the ideals of an artes liberales educationwere to instill standards of conduct and character, knowledge/mastery of a bodyof texts, a respect for societal values and standards, and an appreciation forknowledge and truth. As the Roman Empire collapsed, the Church incorporated theclassical ideals and curriculum of the liberal arts into Christian education,infusing the old artes liberales with a new religious mission.

As centers of learning were established at the great universities throughoutEurope, and as the ideals of the Renaissance began to seep into thoseinstitutions, the curriculum of liberal arts training changed,...