Father of modern management
Read Father of modern management and check the IELTS Reading answers. Peter Drucker was one of the most important management thinkers of the past hundred years. He wrote about 40 book and thousands of articles and he never rested in his mission to persuade the world that management matters. “Manage…
Passage preview
Peter Drucker was one of the most important management thinkers of the past hundred years. He wrote about 40 book and thousands of articles and he never rested in his mission to persuade the world that management matters. “Management is an organ of institutions … the organ that converts a mob into an organisation, and human efforts into performance.” Did he succeed? The range of his influence was extraordinary. Wherever people grapple with tricky management problems, from big organizations to small ones, from the public sector to the private, and increasingly in the voluntary sector, you can find Drucker’s fingerprints.
Vocabulary from this passage
10 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- anarchy noun
A state of disorder, confusion, or lawlessness resulting from a total absence or failure of authority.
Without clear traffic rules, the busy city intersections would quickly degenerate into complete transit anarchy.
- conventional wisdom noun
A generally accepted theory, opinion, or belief that is widespread but not necessarily true or verified.
New data challenged the conventional wisdom that high-fat diets are always harmful to human cardiovascular health.
- empower verb
To give someone the authority, power, or confidence to do something or take control of situations.
The management policy aims to empower low-level employees to make decisions independently without supervisors.
- entrepreneur noun
An individual who sets up a business or enterprise, taking on financial risks hoping for profit.
The young entrepreneur secured financial backing from venture capitalists to launch her tech startup company.
- grapple verb
To engage in a close fight or struggle with a highly difficult problem, issue, or situation.
Developing nations often grapple with inflation while trying to upgrade their public infrastructure networks.
- maverick noun
An unorthodox, independent-minded person who consistently refuses to follow the established customs or rules of groups.
The brilliant but maverick director shocked film critics by completely altering the movie's ending scene.
- persistent adjective
Continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action or state despite difficulty, opposition, or setbacks.
The region suffered from persistent droughts, causing severe crop failures for local farming communities.
- profound implications noun
Deep, far-reaching, or highly significant consequences and effects resulting from an action, discovery, or event.
The discovery of liquid water on Mars has profound implications for the future of space exploration.
- proletariat noun
The working-class people, regarded collectively, especially in an industrial or highly traditional socio-economic context.
Social historians studied how the urban proletariat organized labor strikes during the industrial revolution.
- rigour noun
The quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, accurate, and scientifically or logically strict.
Academic journals require high research rigour before approving any scientific manuscript for official publication.
Answers with explanations
- 14. i
Paragraph A introduces Drucker as an essential management thinker and outlines his vast **influence** across numerous sectors. The focus is strictly on his immense **impact** and widespread **popularity** globally. This aligns perfectly with heading (i).
- 15. v
Paragraph B outlines Drucker's initial entry into writing, listing **his first two books** and his **third book**. The clear focus on these texts and the public reactions they provoked directly supports the heading 'Early publications of Drucker’s' (v).
- 16. ix
Paragraph C discusses Drucker's ideas regarding the rise of **knowledge workers**. He argued that employees could no longer just be treated as cogs in a machine; they had become entrepreneurs of their own brainpower. This shift in how employees function aligns exactly with 'The changing role of the employee' (ix).
- 17. vi
Paragraph D explains Drucker's perspective on balancing different management approaches. He believed that mixing long-term objectives set by general managers with employee empowerment created the best results, deliberately avoiding both anarchy and over-control. This justifies heading (vi): 'Drucker’s view of balanced management'.
- 18. ii
Paragraph E explicitly enumerates the **three persistent criticisms** aimed at Drucker, such as focusing too much on big organizations and using management by objectives, which some say led business down a dead end. This directly matches heading (ii): 'Finding fault with Drucker'.
- 19. viii
Paragraph F responds to the criticisms raised in the previous paragraph. It acknowledges where the critiques hold weight ('There is some truth') but also strongly defends his foundational role and continued relevance. Weighing both the positive and negative aspects makes heading (viii), 'An appreciation of the pros and cons of Drucker’s work', the correct choice.
- 20. NO
The statement claims Drucker believed employees should have the **same status** as employers. The text explicitly states he viewed knowledge workers as being **neither “bosses” nor “workers”**, meaning they occupied a unique space rather than having the exact same status as their bosses. Because this contradicts the statement, the answer is NO.
- 21. NO
The prompt claims that **managers and politicians will dominate** the economy. However, the text explicitly states the social transition is leading to a society **dominated by brain workers**, not politicians and managers. Therefore, the statement contradicts the passage and is NO.
- 22. YES
The statement claims Drucker believed workers should not rely solely on the employment relationship and must voluntarily develop their intelligence. The text supports this by stating workers act as **entrepreneurs** responsible for **developing their most important resource, brainpower**, and taking control of their careers. Thus, the answer is YES.
- 23. NO
The statement asserts that Drucker's work is **out of date** today. The passage directly counters this by stating that his ideas 'remained at the **cutting edge**' and were not simply banal history. Because his work is still considered highly relevant, the claim is NO.
- 24. NO
The statement claims his concepts were considered **highly effective for small entrepreneurial start-ups**. However, the passage notes that he **focused on big organisations** and even claimed that 'the small unit is not only inefficient, it cannot produce at all.' Since he did not believe his concepts were highly effective for small units, the answer is NO.
- 25-26: DE
Option D correctly matches Drucker's belief that you should not **rely too much on command-and-control** but instead **allow their employees to work out ways of achieving those goals** (self-appraisal and empowerment over outside force). Option E is supported by his insistence that firms need an 'elite corps of general managers, who **set these long-term objectives**', delegating execution rather than micromanaging details. Thus, D and E are the correct choices.