Robert McNamara and the limits of ‘bean counting’ (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

The recent death of Robert McNamara provides an opportunity to reflect on the shortcomings of the strategy of numerical rationality in management that defined his career. In both of the major projects in which he took a leading role, as President of the Ford Motor Company and US Defense Secretary during the Vietnam War, his strategy has retrospectively been held up as a model of development to avoid. In particular, management studies now champions the importance of ‘culture’ in running complex organizations. Ironically, the UK government increasingly seeks to run public services, including higher education, according to a McNamarite model in a bid to be more business‐friendly, despite the evidence that many involved in private sector management have been moving away from this model for a quarter of a century.