University students who major in Business Management probably heard of Henri Fayol’s 14 principles of management (and his four functions of management) and Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management. However, a name that most likely sounds unfamiliar to them is that of Charles Clinton Spaulding’s 8 Fundamental Necessities of Management. Unfortunately, business management textbooks and other management sources have often omitted the contributions of African-Americans to the historical development of the field. Over the years, we noticed this phenomenon and felt impelled to make a concerted effort to examine historical documents and explore any significant contributions made by people of color that may have been overlooked.
Our search led us to a 1927 article written by Spaulding, which was entitled “The Administration of Big Business.” It was published in the Pittsburgh Courier, a once widely read African-American newspaper, and it outlined Spaulding’s eight “fundamental necessities” for effectively managing a business. Based on that archival finding we were inspired to write a paper entitled “Rediscovering Charles Clinton Spaulding’s ‘The Administration of Big Business’: Insight into Early 20th Century African-American Management Thought,” which was recently published in the Journal of Management History.
As business educators, we are seeing the need to utilize critical pedagogy as a method to increase the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of Black college students. The integration of African-American Management History into the business curriculum will demonstrate to Black students that they too can be successful in managing a successful enterprise in spite of the challenges faced by people of color. It will also allow them to think critically about their business education and ultimately find ways to make a profit and make a difference in their communities just as historic African-American business leaders (such as C. C. Spaulding, John Merrick, and Alonzo Herndon) did in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Some of our students mentioned to us after lectures that it was inspirational to learn that Spaulding, a Black man born ten years after slavery ended, had developed his own philosophy of management 22 years before the seminal work of Henri Fayol (General and Industrial Management) was translated into English. Students that attend HBCUs and other minority serving institutions who have aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs and business executives can learn from his 8 fundamental necessities that are outlined below:
Necessity 1: Cooperation and Teamwork
Spaulding wrote “if I were asked to name the one fundamental necessity in the administration of big business I would answer immediately that a thorough-going cooperation is essential on the part of the executives in the development of big business.”
Necessity 2: Authority and Responsibility
