A Thriving Human Economy Requires Higher Performing Institutions

Abstract

Drucker’s insistence that management was never his first and primary concern. In fact, he said that concern derived from, and was decisively influenced by, his early work in political studies. Drucker, who came of age in Vienna in the turbulent atmosphere of the 1930s, had urgent political reasons for believing that humanity and effective organizational performance are interlinked. From the evidence gathered with his own eyes, it was clear to Drucker that humanity without performance was futile, an open door to populists who promised strong leadership and said they would “make the trains run on time.” On the other hand, Drucker argued that performance without humanity leads to a different kind of tyranny, a soulless technocracy or technological solutionism. He maintained that high-performing institutions and the management that assured their performance were, therefore, both an essential part of a functioning democracy and a bulwark against its enemies. Drucker wrote time after time that achieving results is a manager’s litmus test and his or her “first social responsibility. Unless [the organization] discharges its performance responsibility, it cannot discharge anything else. A bankrupt business is not a desirable employer and is unlikely to be a good neighbor in a community.”1 Yet, since Drucker viewed management as a liberal art—“‘liberal’ A THRIVING HUMAN ECONOMY REQUIRES HIGHER PERFORMING INSTITUTIONS