What have you learned about management.
Read Alfred P. Sloan’s “The Most Important Thing I Ever Learned About Management.” Sloan was one of
the great American CEOs of the 20th century. He turned General Motors, throughout the 1920s, 30s and
40s, into the most serious competitor of the Ford Motor Company, and one of the most respected car
makers in the world.
This essay is your opportunity to explain what you have learned about management and
organizations. Your essay should reflect on the ideas Sloan offers in his text using all the
relevant notions we have seen in class this semester. What is “the most important thing” Sloan
learned about management? Compare what Sloan considers to be the most important idea in
management with what you, after a whole semester studying the subject, consider to be the
most important ideas in management. Explain.
Reflect also on the following questions and issues:
What particular concepts does he defend in his management system? What are the concepts
he proposes to manage a business, reward employees, managers, etc.? Explain his
management theory in as many details as possible. How would you compare what he says with
other views of management we analyzed during the semester? In what ways, have his insights
about management paved the way to the corporation as we know it today? Are they still
relevant to today’s management questions? What is his idea of the managerial function and of
leadership? Are there important issues pertaining to management that are unmentioned in this
text? In other words, do you think the concepts he presents and reflects on would be sufficient
to manage an organization in today’s world?
Sample Solution