A very insightful article from Harvard Business Review analyzed the shift in management topics over the last 100 years. The charts in the article clearly show the gradual shift from tangible aspects of management e.g., capital allocation or organizing production, to intangible aspects like sustainable strategy or customer experience. The shift was also about moving away from generic topics and toward specific managerial frameworks and ideas with immediate applicability, for example, from mass production to Six Sigma in operations.
Today, leaders are exploring how best to adapt to organizational and digital transformation, globalization, the diversification of the workforce, and the advent of remote work. It will be interesting to note what new topics will emerge in the future.
