Writings on public administration go back to ancient civilization.1
The ancient Egyptians
and Babylonians left considerable advice on the techniques of management and administration.
So did the civilizations of China, Greece, and Rome. Modern management techniques
can be traced from Alexander the Great’s use of staff 2
to the assembly-line methods of the
arsenal of Venice;3
from the theorizing of Niccolo Machiavelli on the nature of leadership4
to Adam
Smith’s advocacy of the division of labor;5
and from Robert Owen’s assertion that “vital machines”
(employees) should be given as much attention as “inanimate machines”6
to Charles Babbage’s contention
that there existed “basic principles of management.”7