The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream

✍ Scribed by Kenneth Hopper; William Hopper

• Publisher: I.B. TAURIS
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 351
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Where does the Protestant work ethic come from? And how did America achieve such dominance in management for so long? "The Puritan Gift" traces the origins and the characteristics of American managerial culture which, in the course of three centuries, turned a group of small colonies into the greatest economic and political power on earth. "The Puritan Gift" argues that the drive, energy and acceptance of innovation, competition, growth and social mobility, all of which lie at the root of America's management culture, have their origins in the discipline and ethos of America's first wave of European immigrants: the Puritans. And, the authors warn, as Americans distance themselves from the core values which produced their business and economic successes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they put their future prosperity and security at risk. This is an original exploration of the dramatic and far-reaching consequences of the Puritans' 'gift' to America - the ethos which produced the early success of America and what came to be known as the American dream. Puritan Gift has been chosen as one of the top 10 business books of 2007 by the Financial Times

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Part I: Origins
1 The Puritan Origins of American Managerial Culture
2 The Great Migration of the 1630s
3 'Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way'
4 The Profound Influence of French Technology
Part II: Rise
5 Colonel Roswell Lee Designs the Prototype
6 Dan McCallum Creates the Multidivisional Corporation
7 Frederick W. Taylor Reorganizes the Factory Floor
8 Pierre du Pont Invents the Modern Manufacturing Company
Part III: Triumph
9 The Golden Age of American Management (1920-1970)
10 Three Wise Men from the West Go to Japan
Part IV: Collapse - The Cult of the (So-called) Expert
11 Origins and Nature of the Cult
12 Impact of the Cult on the Great Engine Companies
13 The Business Schools as Temples of the Cult
14 Impact of the Cult on Society
15 The Years that the Locust Ate (1971-1995)
16 Dr. Deming Rides to the Rescue - and Fails (1980-1993)
17 The Third (or Sino-Japanese) Industrial Revolution
Part V: Revival
18 False Dawn (1996-2000)
19 The First Light of the True Dawn (2001-2006)
Appendix:Twenty-Five Principles Underlying Good Practice from the Golden Age of Management (1920-1970)
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Names
Subject Index