The Oxford handbook of management theorists /

Editors Witzel and Warner, well-published UK academics, are admirably suited to compile this readable, informative handbook covering seminal 19th-21st-century management theorists. Contributors include global scholars, notable authors, and consultants, whose fields range from management science and engineering to industrial competitiveness and neurology. In addition to recognizing pioneering theorists (e.g., Frederick Taylor, W. Edward Deming), the handbook aims to keep the work of more recent seminal figures (e.g., Henry Mintzberg, C. K. Prahalad) in the forefront of current management dialogue. Rigorous inclusion criteria were employed in selecting theorists. Entries place in context both trailblazers and contemporary standard bearers who have formulated a coherent management theory, succinctly capturing their import and impact. Signed articles include references and/or a two- to four-page bibliography. (The chapter on Herbert Simon boasts a bibliography of almost 15 pages.) Because it spotlights general management theory and covers earliest management theorists through contemporary thinkers likely to influence generations of successors, this work is at once broader and narrower in scope than similar handbooks such as The SAGE Handbook of New Approaches in Management and Organization, edited by Daved Barry and Hans Hansen (2008), or The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies, edited by Mats Alvesson et al. (2009). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate students through faculty and researchers. E. J. Wood Bowling Green State University