I.N. Kuznetsov: "The sphere of management is a noble, lively, human activity..."

Kostrikov Stanislav Sergeevich ORCID: 0000-0001-6627-6868 PhD in History Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, State University of Management 109542, Russia, Moscow, Ryazan Avenue, 99 ss_kostrikov@guu.ru Other publications by this author

The State University of Management is rightfully the first management university in our country. For more than a century, he has been training specialists in the field of production management organization and in other spheres of the national economy. Its history is closely connected with the development of management science in tsarist Russia and in the Soviet Union. And it all started with pre-revolutionary commercial schools that trained specialists in the field of trade, industry, banking, finance and stock exchange. These educational institutions were created and developed thanks to the initiative of the Russian merchants and those scientists who were looking for the first approaches to the scientific organization of labor.

Most of them were under the jurisdiction not of the rigid and conservative Ministry of Education, but of the more liberal, more active and, let us say, more professional Ministry of Finance. It was in commercial educational institutions that new approaches to the education and upbringing of future specialists were developed, the most advanced teaching methods were used at that time, there was a connection with practice. And it was in them that for the first time in our country since the early 60s of the XIX century, they began to divide the training of future personnel for the economy into "performers" and "managers", as those who are now called "managers" or "managers" were then called ^[1].

The traditions of commercial educational institutions have not sunk into eternity after the fall of the autocracy in Russia. In a place with the majority of teachers and staff who began to cooperate with the Soviet government, these traditions were transferred to the new Soviet universities. It was necessary to restore the economy of the country destroyed by the First World War and the Civil War, as well as by foreign military intervention. The experience, knowledge, and achievements of the pre-revolutionary commercial school were successfully perceived and developed in the new socio-economic conditions. In the most difficult conditions of industrial and transport devastation, it was necessary to quickly adjust the work of the economic mechanism of the country.

During this period, the ideas of scientific organization of labor (NOTES) in all spheres of activity became very popular. Young people who came to universities and technical schools enthusiastically joined this work. Many of the future specialists and scientists have passed a glorious path from the machine in production to the heights of engineering and scientific achievements.

Igor Nikolaevich Kuznetsov (1926 - 1984), who became known as a major specialist in the scientific organization of production management, also made this path. His works were aimed at developing the ideas of notes, optimizing the management of industrial production. He was one of the main initiators of the introduction of automated production management and control systems at the enterprises of the USSR. He also devoted many years to teaching, became one of the pioneers of Russian management education.

I.N. Kuznetsov was born in 1926 in Venev, Tula region. In 1928, together with his parents, he moved to Moscow ^[2]. Already in the capital in 1933, he entered secondary school, which he did not have time to finish because of the impending Great Patriotic War. Having studied only 8 classes, he was forced to leave school in 1941. In April 1942, Igor Nikolaevich entered the 1st State Bearing Plant, where, after accelerated training, he received the specialty of a worker-turner. This stage in the life of I.N. Kuznetsov greatly influenced his interest in the production process. Given the factor of war and the constant shortage of parts and resources, many enterprises were literally saturated with the atmosphere of searching for the most rational way of production, with minimal costs and high productivity. The combination of experience and high labor discipline of the older generation of workers, with the ingenuity and energy of the younger generation gave their results in the wartime industry. Skills and natural observation allowed Igor Nikolaevich to form his own approach to a complex production process. Back at the factory, he got acquainted with the concept of NOTES. Throughout the entire period of the first five-year plans, a special system of advanced training and education was formed at Soviet enterprises. In addition to direct practical activities, the workers constantly improved their skills in theoretical terms. This tradition did not stop in wartime. Igor Nikolaevich continued his studies at the school of working youth at the same time as his work.

After familiarizing himself with the basics of SHEET MUSIC, he decided to continue his studies. After graduating from the 10th grade, in 1944 he entered the 1st year of the USSR Institute of Foreign Trade at the Faculty of Commerce. This choice was not accidental. The Institute was established in 1932. Initially it was a highly specialized departmental educational institution. During its history, it has experienced two castling between the capitals. At first, the institute was located in Moscow, and then it was transferred to Leningrad. The training program in it was tailored exclusively to the needs of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade and consisted of only three areas of training – forestry, export, legal. The institute celebrated its first graduation in 1938. In 1942, the university was evacuated back to Moscow.

In 1943, the structure of the institute changed. Now there were faculties in it: monetary and financial, legal and foreign trade, which was still called commercial. The main teaching staff were such outstanding scientists as Hero of Socialist Labor and Stalin Prize laureate Nikolai Nikolaevich Lyubimov, Fyodor Petrovich Bystrov, Nathan Rachmilevich Weitzman, (who headed the Department of Accounting and Statistics); lawyers - Professors Sergey Kirillovich May and Alexander Davydovich Keilin, etc. Special emphasis was placed on the linguistic segment of education. English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Finnish, Polish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Persian, Turkish and other languages were taught at the university. It was an educational institution with very serious training, inherited from the first pre-revolutionary commercial schools.

After graduating from the Institute in 1949, I.N. Kuznetsov was sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for economic work in the Dynamo society as deputy head of the financial planning Department, where he worked until December 20, 1954.

In 1954, a sharp turn took place in the life of I.N. Kuznetsov. He enters the full-time postgraduate course of the Moscow Institute of Engineering and Economics. Sergo Ordzhonikidze (MIEI – that was the name of the current State University of Management at that time) to the Department of Political Economy. In February 1957, the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR sent him to Czechoslovakia to complete postgraduate studies and defend his dissertation. In 1958, I.N. Kuznetsov successfully defended his PhD thesis on the topic: "Some issues of technical development in connection with the growth of labor productivity (on the example of mechanical engineering in the USSR)". After the defense, he received the title of Candidate of Economic Sciences.  In the same year, from August 1, according to the distribution of the Ministry of Higher Education, he was sent to the Research Laboratory of the Moscow City Council of National Economy at the S. Ordzhonikidze MIEI as a senior engineer, and from October 16 of the same year, he became a senior researcher at the laboratory.

I must say that during this period there were major changes in the approach to production management on a worldwide scale. In the 50s of the XX century, mankind entered a new phase of the Scientific and Technological Revolution associated with the development of atomic energy, space, new types of engines, automation of production processes, the development of electronics, cybernetics, computer technology, etc. The development of computer technologies encouraged researchers to find ways to include them in various spheres of human life, including including in industrial production. These scientific trends have found active dissemination and implementation in the USSR.

A new chapter in the national management science is associated with the name of Olympiada Vasilyevna Kozlova, the head of the MIEI and the founder of the national school of management. The year 1958 became a landmark in the history of industrial production in our country. It was during this period that, on the initiative of O.V. Kozlova, the subsequently famous Research Laboratory of the Moscow City Council of Economy (NIL MGSNH), the first among the country's universities of a new type of research organization, began its work. She conducted scientific research on the basis of business contracts and worked in close cooperation with industrial enterprises. It operated a research and computing center, which was engaged in aspect analysis of industries, economic forecasting and the creation of automated control systems for enterprises. Subsequently, the MGSNH NILE turned into the national economy Management NILE.

As part of the work of the laboratory, I.N. Kuznetsov engaged in the development of the topic of his dissertation. On December 9, 1960, he was transferred to the position of head of the Department of General Economic Problems and Coordination of the NIL.  Laboratory research was closely related to the theoretical and practical training of the student body, so many teachers combined work at the NIL and teaching at the university. So Igor Nikolaevich since 1961 took the position of senior lecturer at the Department of Political Economy of the MIEI.

However, the research component prevailed in Kuznetsov's activities. Together with O.V. Kozlova, he engaged in the development of a modern concept of a new science – "management". So in 1966, the first department in the country "Scientific fundamentals of production Management" was opened at the MIEI. And in 1969, the first textbook on management in our country (and not only in ours) was published. The authors of this work were authoritative Soviet scientists: Doctor of Economics O.V. Kozlova, Ph.D. D.M. Gvishiani, Ph.D. N.D. Baykov, Ph.D. I.N. Kuznetsov, Ph.D. E.I. Dolitsky, Ph.D. V.V. Laptev, D.T.n.N.E. Kobrinsky, Ph.D. V.M. Shepel, Ph.D. O.A. Deineko, Ph.D. S.T. Mitin. In this work, the emergence of governance not only as a social function, a sphere of human activity, but also as an independent science, is considered as a natural necessity: "Issues of improving governance have always been in the focus of the party and the government. But they have never been so acute as at the present stage. The productive forces of society on the basis of technological progress are now developing at an unusually high pace. Now we have to solve the questions of how to manage production most effectively, how to optimally use the country's huge and ever-increasing fixed assets, how to properly organize the continuously increasing mass of labor" ^[3].

The theses presented in the textbook are based on the painstaking and versatile work of the laboratory. This concerned the monitoring and evaluation of efficiency at enterprises of different industry purpose, number of employees, location, etc. In particular, in his article "Shopless management of industrial enterprises (on the example of mechanical engineering)" from 1966, I.N. Kuznetsov notes that in a number of industries there are small enterprises with up to 500 people. In the garment industry – 96.3%, woodworking 85.7%, textile about 74%, mechanical engineering 42.9%, fuel industry about 20% ^[4]. All these enterprises are organized according to the traditional shop structure, which, from the researcher's point of view, is not necessary, but on the contrary, due to additional links, the structure becomes not agile, which interferes with the production process. The author analyzes this problem in detail. Therefore, he proposes to introduce a goalless management, where unnecessary links are eliminated by introducing sites with a certain degree of enlargement. In such small industries, the linear control system is more rational. For managers who have removed unnecessary structures, the decision-making process is facilitated. The creation of enlarged subject-closed sections accelerates the production process and movements within enterprises.

On May 24, 1968, Igor Nikolaevich Kuznetsov was awarded the degree of Doctor of Economics by the decision of the Higher Attestation Commission. The topic of his doctoral dissertation: "Socialist state industrial enterprise in the management system of socialist industrial production". Judging by the dissertation, I.N. Kuznetsov conducted his scientific work mainly in two directions: in the field of developing theoretical problems of management of socialist industrial production and in the field of studying the patterns of economic development of socialist industrial enterprises. On these problems, I.N. Kuznetsov published 30 scientific papers with a total volume of 70 pp. l. Including two monographs: "Improving the organization of production management in mechanical engineering" and "Improving the management system of industrial enterprises."

After defending his doctoral dissertation, Igor Nikolaevich becomes a recognized specialist in the field of industrial management organization. He publishes a number of works, including the monograph "Management of Socialist production", the introductory article to the translated monograph "Management of firms in Japan", the brochure "Modern problems of economic development management". In creative collaboration with O.V. Kozlova, he took part in the All-Union competition to create the first textbook in the Soviet Union on the "Scientific Foundations of Production Management". The textbook was awarded the State Prize and recommended for publication.

I.N. Kuznetsov was systematically involved as a lecturer of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the All-Union society "Knowledge". In 1966, he was sent to Poland to give lectures through the Society of Soviet-Polish Friendship, and then through the Committee on Science and Technology under the Council of Ministers of the USSR and to the Netherlands to participate in the XXIV International Congress on Management. In 1971, he was sent for 12 days to the People's Republic of Bulgaria to give lectures on: "The development of the economy in the USSR in the ninth five-year plan 1971-1975", the business trip was organized by the society "Knowledge".

In 1972, I.N. Kuznetsov, together with Professor O.V. Kozlova and Professor G.A. Bryansky, published the work "Methodology and organization of production management", which was published for managers of enterprises and associations of industry and other industries. In it, he develops two key themes in the process of organizing management. The first is the development of production management functions in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution. The author draws attention to the fact that management functions were formed in the process of production development under the influence of the deepening division of labor and technological progress. These processes are objective and always in a state of development, therefore they cannot be considered as static factors. Consequently, management functions should also be considered in the context of their development. Thus, as technological progress accelerates, science and production are intertwined more and more. This is how science turns directly into a productive force. Consequently, the enterprise can no longer be perceived as a traditional, purely industrial infrastructure. A modern enterprise is also a point of application of the research aspect. And a worker at such an enterprise should have a much broader knowledge and level of education. Each enterprise should work in close cooperation with industry scientific institutions. And the enterprise itself, in addition to the usual production functions, should have the character of a research laboratory. The introduction of automated control systems at the enterprise makes it possible to significantly simplify such aspects of production as technical preparation of production in terms of the development of technological processes, tool design, drawing up time standards, consumption of materials and tools, standardization and normalization of the work of enterprises. And the presence of research laboratories and research centers adjacent to industry universities at the enterprise will speed up and qualitatively improve the level of training of new personnel and respond more quickly to changes in the production process, simplify and accelerate the introduction of new technologies at enterprises ^[5].

The second is the organizational structure of an industrial enterprise in the conditions of a scientific and technological revolution. I.N. Kuznetsov notes that in the conditions of increasing rates of scientific and technological progress, new design bureaus and technological laboratories for the development of new types of products and technological processes are being organized and expanded at enterprises, experimental workshops are being created and expanded, mechanization and automation departments are being created production processes, and in medium and small enterprises – similar bureaus and groups within the department of the chief technologist or technical department. In this context of the organization, great tasks are assigned to factory design bureaus, which should be in close cooperation with design and technology institutes and industry design organizations, factory design bureaus ensure accelerated introduction of new products into production. This organizational structure should provide for the presence of independent departments of the chief mechanic and the chief power engineer ^[6].

It should also be noted the spirit of the times of the mid-70s – early 80s of the XX century. The revealed capabilities of computers impressed humanity at all levels, from household to research areas. There was confidence that technology in modern times will be able to regulate any process, from production to solving a complex of social problems. This trend was also seen among management specialists who wanted to find a universal self-adaptive model. The spirit of technocratism began to penetrate into the managerial scientific field. After the successful practice of implementing automated control systems at enterprises, a number of specialists have a desire to regulate every aspect of production activities with their help.

In his article "Methodology for determining the economic efficiency of management systems" (1972), I.N. Kuznetsov noted: "Despite the existing theoretical developments in the field of efficiency methodology, management, as a sphere of application of labor and financial resources, does not have a scientifically based methodology for determining economic efficiency to date. The existing methodology for calculating the economic efficiency of automated control systems is based on the general principles of evaluating the effectiveness of new equipment (a set of technical means of automated control systems), which cannot be used in determining the effectiveness of the management organization" ^[7]. He further explains that the creation of an automated control system for a specific enterprise takes into account a large number of factors that cannot be standardized. Automated control systems are auxiliary tools and cannot be of a primary nature. This situation somewhat resembles the current thinking in the field of digitalization and the development and use of artificial intelligence. It seems that even today I.N. Kuznetsov would make a conclusion about what is the main thing in this problem, and what is just a tool that facilitates our activities.

Lectures on the course of political economy, read by I.N. Kuznetsov, have always been distinguished by a high ideological level, were connected with reality, revealed the laws of economic life and aroused keen interest among students. In his practical work, he showed organization and exactingness, both to himself and to subordinate employees. He was actively engaged in social work, being the head of a seminar on the study of economic problems of the development of the world socialist economic system. In his lectures for students of the Moscow Institute of Management (MIEI since 1975 became MIU) Igor Nikolaevich always noted the main thesis: "The sphere of management is a noble, lively and exclusively human activity."