Editorial

Citation

Carraher, S. (2015), "Editorial", Journal of Management History, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 286-287. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-05-2015-0170

4000 citations for the JMH and Strategic IQ

Welcome to Volume 21 Issue 3 of the Journal of Management History. With this issue, we have broken the 4,000-citation barrier with 4,013. We broke 3,000 just three issues ago, so we are advancing pretty quickly. With the last issue, our h index was 26, and it has remained at 26, but our G index increased from 44 to 45. Our age-weighted citation rate has increased from 434.34 to 451.19. At the beginning of Volume 20, we had an acceptance rate of 17.1 per cent. Right now, we are at a 3.3 per cent acceptance rate, although by the next issue, I would see the acceptance rate increasing by several per cent more. We need additional good papers submitted. As I write this editorial, I am just back from a series of trips working on training individuals in strategy and tactics as well as getting ready to serve as a judge for an undergraduate research competition. The core of what I was teaching is that one person can make a difference. When recruiting individuals, don’t recruit unmotivated individuals and seek to motivate them but rather recruit motivated individuals and then seek to inspire them in a transformational manner. Instill cooperation, economy of force, surprise, simplicity, security and movement while having a clear objective taking the offensive, and possess superiority at the point of contact when required to confront an opponent, but remember that it is best to never have to engage an opponent directly. I am also working as a member of the Emerging Scholar Award Committee for the Academy of Management Technology & Innovation Management Division, which looks at the records of individuals who have received their doctorates in the past five years who are showing promise to make a substantial contribution to the field. These are some of the top young scholars from some of the top research universities from around the world. Some have one journal article published, some have two articles published and some have more than half a dozen solid journal articles published. The age-weighted citation rates ranged from 0.6 to over 300.

My own research shows that the age-weighted citation rate tends to be one of the most important measures of current contribution, although today I also heard about the m index, which is essentially the h index divided by the time in the field. If you have an m index of more than 1, it is considered to be a good impact – so, for instance, JMH has an h of 26 and is currently in the 21st year of publishing, so our m index would be 1.24. While the number of articles does not equal contribution, I started to think about the type of contribution that a lack of publications can have or how many top-tier journal publications someone would likely have if they never submit any? Please take action and submit articles. When it comes to some ideas for research in addition to research-looking some of the fathers and mothers of management thought and theory, additional research examining the history of management concepts, thoughts and theories would be nice, as would be research on more recent major researchers such as Michael Hitt, Geert Hofstede, Mike Peng and other researchers with an age-weighted citation rate of over 2,000.

We begin the issue with “Viewing the Work of Lillian M. Gilbreth through the Lens of Critical Biography” by Jane Whitney Gibson of Nova Southeastern University, Russell W. Clayton of St. Leo University, Jack Deem of Kaplan University, Jacqueline E. Einstein of University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Erin L. Henry of Harvard University Business School, which examines the significant contributions of Lillian M. Gilbreth through the lens of critical biography to put her work in the context of her life events, her key roles, the turning points in her life and the societal context within which her contributions to management thought were made. This is followed by “Implementing the Gantt Chart in Europe and Britain: The Contributions of Wallace Clark” by Daniel A Wren of the University of Oklahoma, in which he traces the European and British activities of Wallace Clark and his consulting firm with public sector agencies and private firms in implementing Henry L. Gantt’s chart concept. He finds that while developed to meet the needs of shipbuilding for World War I, the Gantt chart was disseminated through the work of Wallace Clark during the 1930s in numerous public sector and private organizations in 12 nations. The Gantt concept was applied in a variety of industries and firms using batch processing, continuous processing and/or sub-assembly lines in mass production. This is the first study of the diffusion of a managerial tool, developed in America by Henry L. Gantt, into Europe and Britain through the contributions of Wallace Clark.

“The Potential which may lie in discarded, undeveloped or overlooked ideas” by Tony Proctor of the Chester Business School at the University of Chester draws attention to overlooked ideas and inventions and how years later they may become profitable business opportunities for entrepreneurs. The paper examines a particular aspect of the history of the watch-making industry during the eighteenth century. “Conceptualizing the body and the logics of performing: Residuals of ancient images and contemporary discussions of management” by Deryk Stec gives increased attention to the absence of bodies within discussions of organizations; however, far less attention has been given to the interplay between organizations and images of our bodies. This paper looks at how residues of ancient images have influenced our perspectives on management. In “How management ideas helped Michael Polanyi to better understand society and science”, Struan Jacobs of Deakin University examines the work of Michael Polanyi in his development of an important philosophical theory of science, knowledge and society. This article discusses in detail management ideas as an important resource for Polanyi the philosopher, and the accounts how he developed science as a system of self-management.

“The Life and Times of a Senior Scholar: an interview with Lotte Bailyn” by Karl Moore provides an interview of Lotte Bailyn by Karl Moore. Lotte Bailyn is the T Wilson (1953) Professor of Management, Emerita at the MIT Sloan School of Management. For the period 1997-1999, she was Chair of the MIT faculty, and during 1995-1997, she was the Matina S. Horner Distinguished Visiting Professor at Radcliffe’s Public Policy Institute. In 56 years of publishing, her works have been cited 4,583 times, and she has an h index of 34, a g-index of 66 and an age-weighted citation rate of 230.76. “There is nothing so practical as a good theory” by previous JMH editor David Lamond of Victoria University reviews the book “Henri Fayol, the Manager” by Peaucelle and Guthrie, which is published by Pickering & Chatto.

I trust that you will enjoy these articles and interview as much as I have and that they will provide you with ideas for future research which you can submit to the Journal of Management History.