In search of a possible evolutionary principle of management theory and practice

Starting from the view of economy as the field in which the sustainable dynamics of a society are expressed (Barile, et al. 2013, 2014; Espejo, 2014), the aim of this work is to investigate the hidden and sensitive relation which links together the evolution of the managerial theories and that of production systems, integrating an empirical and a theoretical approach. The main question of research is summarized as follows: Is there (and if there is, is it possible to discover and isolate) a general low through which explain the conjunct evolution of the managerial theories and the production systems? The work applies the conceptual framework of the Viable Systems Approach (VSA) (Barile, 2000, 2009, 2013; Golinelli, 2000, 2010; Barile et al., 2012; Barile and Caputo, 2017; Calabrese et al., 2017; Tronvoll et al., 2017) merging a theoretical and a practical perspective. In particular, two studies are mentioned in order to create the conceptual context from which to start the analysis: Simone et al. (2014) focus on the “epistemological element” which relies under and connotes the birth and the development of an economic theory (from mercatura and industrial and commercial technique to management); Massaroni et al. (2014) give to their analysis an empirical connotation, focusing on the evolution of the industrial models of production with reference to some key sectors of the economy, underlining the passage from craft production and mass production to modular production. The work aims to make interpretative hypothesis of the evolutionary dynamics theorized and observed by discussing them conceptually and highlighting theoretical and practical implications: from these studies, it seems to emerge a cause-effect relation, chained to the firm-environment dynamic, which connotes the development of productive models and the evolution of managerial theories.