Slavery was Abolished as a Form of Management

Before slavery was abolished, slaves were not considered people, they were viewed as personal property called chattel. The law did not recognize them as having a free will; therefore, they were managed as objects. The practice of managers controlling people as chattel ended in the UK in 1833 and in the US thirty years later with a Civil War.

In other words, as a manager, we can negotiate with forms of compensation and we can motivate with influence, but the right of one person to control another person does not exist. While a manager can no longer control people, the managers’ right to control objects has never changed. As an agent for the company, responsible for the deployment of assets, a manager can offer an employee a fair days pay in exchange for a fair days work.