It is widely accepted that management concepts such as strategic management, human resource management and management development have a well-defined body of knowledge designed to inform management praxis, however the notion of efficiency has no such body of knowledge to support its application within management praxis.

This book proposes the replacement of the generalised term efficiency with the more comprehensive notion of performance efficiency to provide a reliable basis on which to evaluate management behaviour. Given the scope of the investigation, the outcome is not designed to prove the success or failure of the inherent nature of efficiency, but rather to establish a new starting point for yet wider empirical research. At a macro-level, it advances the proposition that the notion of efficiency has become an ideological statement of support for any management intention rather than a practical means to inform or evaluate a range of management actions.

Reviews

"This book provides important insights into the complex subjects of management and operations in any sector of the economy. The author provides a vivid discussion of theoretical concepts and their practical implications. He makes the study of management fun reading without diluting the seriousness of the subject." Prof. dr. Arie Halachmi (Institute of Government at TSU, USA)

Contents

1. From Laissez-Faire To Laissez-Faire, 2. Mercantilism to Laissez-Faire: The Precursors of Economic Efficiency: Thoughts on the rise of regulated economies, 3. The Evolution of Technical Efficiency in the Context of Management Practice, 1870-2001, 4. The Influence of Professions on the Notion of Efficiency, 5. Case Study 1: Economic Commentators and the Influence of Economic Efficiency, 6. Procurement and the Notion of Efficiency, 7. Case Study 3: The Transfer from Technical Efficiency to Economic Efficiency in Rail Networks, 8. Technical Efficiency and Management Practice: Evidence from the Literature, 9. The Notion of Effin Globalizing Management Practice