Peter F. Drucker on Economic Threats

INTRODUCTION: A SOCIETYOF ORGANIZATIONS

SOCIETY in this century has become a society of organizations. Social tasks which only a century ago were done by the family, in the home, in the shop, or on the farm—from providing goods and services to education and care of the sick and the elderly—are increasingly performed in and through large organizations. These organizations—whether business enterprises, hospitals, schools, or universities—are designed for continuity and run by professional managers. Executives have thus become the leadership groups in our society. The leadership groups of old—whether nobles, priests, landed aristocracy, or business tycoons—have disappeared or become peripheral.

The first job of the executive is to make his organization ...