Professionalisation of management is what happened when managers started getting hired and promoted on the back of merit rather than their belonging to the family of the owner of the business.
It's actually a story arc in the most recent season of Downton Abbey where the middle class lawyer/businessman Matthew Crawley bails out the old-money estate and with it it's undisputed master, his father-in-law, the Earl of Grantham. Looking over the books (which, it's implied, is beneath his new status), he realises that the estate is mismanaged, running a deficit and multiple avenues of efficiency are left unexplored. He faces stiff opposition from the Earl with reference to "that's how it's been done for generations". Eventually, (spoiler alert), Matthew, his brother-in-law, a mere servant (gasp!), and the Earl form a coalition to turn the estate around.
The triumph of "the world of business and the law" over "that's how it's been done for generations" is the professionalisation of management.
Whether it's the single biggest factor is of course disputable, but it's very big.
It's actually a story arc in the most recent season of Downton Abbey where the middle class lawyer/businessman Matthew Crawley bails out the old-money estate and with it it's undisputed master, his father-in-law, the Earl of Grantham. Looking over the books (which, it's implied, is beneath his new status), he realises that the estate is mismanaged, running a deficit and multiple avenues of efficiency are left unexplored. He faces stiff opposition from the Earl with reference to "that's how it's been done for generations". Eventually, (spoiler alert), Matthew, his brother-in-law, a mere servant (gasp!), and the Earl form a coalition to turn the estate around.
The triumph of "the world of business and the law" over "that's how it's been done for generations" is the professionalisation of management.
Whether it's the single biggest factor is of course disputable, but it's very big.