Managerism

a bourgeois theory of management of capitalist production; a sociological doctrine constituting part of modern bourgeois ideology. The emergence of managerism is associated with the name of the American engineer F. Taylor. Managerism has developed intensively from the 1950’s through the early 1970’s.

Managerism has two functions—apologetic and practical. The first is directly linked with a defense of the capitalist system. Ideologists of managerism affirm that because of the scientific and technological revolution it is fully possible to resolve the social and economic contradictions of capitalism. In order to do this, it is supposedly necessary to expand management science and to place greater trust in managers, under whose direction enterprises are said to be working not for the sake of increasing the profits of their capitalist bosses but for the well-being of all society.

The class nature of managerism is revealed in the investigation of the relations between labor and capital. Ideologists of managerism are calling for research on “human relations,” in order to establish at capitalist enterprises an atmosphere of “working partnership” between workers and employers, which will increase labor productivity and lead to even greater exploitation of hired workers. Advocates of managerism distort the essence of the production process. They create a unique “cult of managers,” proclaiming the latter to be the bearers of a singular creative force that directs production workers, office laborers, and engineers. The managerist apologia for capitalism is combined with anticommunism. Many bourgeois ideologists state that managerism is characterized by a philosophy of “economic decentralism” as opposed to the socialist theory of economic and political centralism. Thus, the ideologists of managerism attempt in every way to preserve and strengthen private property.

The practical function of managerism is to concentrate on the improvement of the organization and management of modern large capitalist production, finding new ways to organize manufacturing and marketing. Managerism is developing in close accord with concrete empirical research on organization and management. The individual practical recommendations of managerism often can be applied to socialist production as well. It is necessary to remember the words of V. I. Lenin, spoken with regard to Taylorism: “Taylor’s system incorporates the enormous progress of science, systematically analyzing the production process and opening ways to vast increases in the productivity of human labor” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 36, p. 140).

In capitalist countries various societies and associations have been established which develop the general theory of management; these groups are also hired by enterprises to help increase the efficiency of capitalist production.