The Department of Management and Marketing

As one might expect over 100 years, the Faculty of Business and Economics has evolved and been reshaped numerous times to reflect the changing world of commerce around it. The Department of Management and Marketing, perhaps more than its fellow departments within the faculty, is the product of changing attitudes both inside and outside the walls of the University. For the three decades following the Faculty’s establishment in 1924, every department within was organised under the umbrella of the Faculty of Commerce, regardless of their specific disciplines of interest.

Economic history and industrial relations

As the Faculty emerged out of the immediate post-war period, economic history was seen as a vital foundation that underpinned an understanding of the commerce world. In 1950, Andrew John La Nauze was appointed as the founding Chair of Economic History. Upon La Nauze’s move to the History department, he was replaced by William Woodruff in 1955.

The Economic History department remained in place for some time, often sitting in a grey area between the Commerce and Arts faculties. One of the most prominent members and leaders of the Economic History department was Geoffrey Blainey, who held chairs in both History and Economic History over his career. Over the same period, the Faculty had also attracted a number of scholars specialising in industrial relations. Industrial relations had been an important part of the earliest BCom syllabuses back in 1925, but fell in and out of favour in academic circles through the century. The most notable among those focused on industrial relations is the revered Joe Isaac, who shaped the field both at Melbourne and later at Monash University.

Changing times

In the context of the rapidly changing economic world of the 1990s, formal interest in both economic history and industrial relations as disciplines waned. Facing dilemmas about the long-term viability of their chosen fields, a group of staff responsible for these less popular areas found themselves banding together. Some decided to move on or retire, but, given that the group was full of keen business minds, those that remained decided to reinvent themselves within the modern context.

Renaming themselves the Department of Business Development and Corporate History, they introduced the Master of International Business. This program was a big success, and still continues today. The name of the department however, did not stick, and it was changed to the Department of Management within three years. By 2006, they’d become the Department of Management and Marketing.

Early decisions make a difference

Professor Prakash Singh, a long-time member of the department, was studying as a PhD student within the Engineering faculty when the Department of Management emerged. He credits one of the most significant decisions in the Department’s history to the leadership of Professor Ross Williams, who was then the Dean of the Faculty.

“At the time, it was very fashionable to think in functional terms,” Professor Singh said.

Sensing an opportunity to lay a strong organisational foundation, Professor Williams appointed three new professors within the department who specialised in different areas of management, therefore drawing defined lines within the department’s structure.

Professor Cynthia Hardy was appointed as the inaugural Head of the Department of Management. After completing her term in charge, Professor Hardy focused on her academic contributions. Her influence was so significant that she was appointed as a Melbourne Laureate Professor, the only person from the Faculty to be recognised such.

Challenges today

This approach continues today, with any research and teaching within the Department fitting broadly under either organisational studies, marketing, operations and supply chain management, strategy and international business, or human resource management. For a group of people and a department that had struggled to find its feet over a decade, this strong foundation has had a big impact.

From the outside, we are the Department of Management and Marketing, and we could [cover] almost anything... but from inside, we’ve had a good sense of how we are organised, and we want to keep it that way, because it's been working for us.

Professor Prakash Singh

Looking ahead

The biggest challenge for the Faculty since that move has been understanding how they can best set up graduates to fit into the workforce after they leave university.

Members of the Department at a farewell dinner for Dr Robin Canniford

“For marketing, it has been relatively straightforward, … you do a degree in marketing and you can become a marketer, and that's what it is, very clear. But when you do a degree in management, especially if you do it at an undergrad level, what are you?” Singh said.

In response to this, the Faculty has set out to consider how their courses are resonating with students, and continue to be as proactive as possible, offering opportunities that reflect the workforce of the present day. One of the major strategies has been to continue the approach of the Master of International Business’ success by offering more postgraduate courses that attracted both those who had already studied as undergraduates at Melbourne, as well as those coming from overseas to strengthen their business understanding.

After spending close to ten years as the Head or Deputy Head of the Department, Professor Singh admits that managing a group of experts in management and marketing can have its challenges. Fundamentally, however, he feels the sense of teamwork goes back to those earliest days founding the department.

“It was a really crazy bunch, but they found a way to work together, and ever since, we’ve also found ways of working together.”

More stories