Isaac Guzmán Valdivia: biography of this Administration expert

Isaac Guzmán Valdivia is a character from 20th century Mexico. Although he trained in law, he has contributed a lot to the field of philosophy, sociology and the Mexican business world, especially to the field of administration.

Having some ideas that were contrary to what the businessmen of his time thought, he knew how to change the direction of the business sector of their country doing it from within, that is, being part of the patronal.

Below we will see in more detail who went through a biography of Isaac Guzmán Valdivia, in which we will learn about his life and the ideas of his main works.

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Brief biography of Isaac Guzmán Valdivia

Isaac Guzmán Valdivia was a Mexican philosopher, sociologist and businessman who stood out for having contributed a new social approach to business administration. Through his work he gave importance to the influence of foreign administrative thought on the development of administration as a practical science in Mexico.

His works covered concepts related to both economic and political Mexican society., in addition to highlighting what freedoms people should have as citizens of their country and workers in organizations.

Early years

Isaac Guzmán Valdivia was born on October 22, 1905 in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, and his parents were Gilberto Guzmán Venegas and Josefina Valdivia de Guzmán, both also natives of Guanajuato. All of his primary education studies were completed in public institutions.

He continued studying in his native region, completing his university studies at the State College, currently the University of Guanajuato, where he would receive his degree in Law and Notary Public on October 20 1928. After his graduation in 1930 he began teaching social science classes at that same institution.

Years of teaching

He began teaching classes by teaching the General Theory of the State at his Alma Mater and, later, he would teach History of Economic Doctrines and Philosophy of Law until 1936, the year in which he would stop being a teacher at the State College.

Although he was comfortable in Guanajuato, Isaac Guzmán Valdivia saw opportunities in the city of Torreón in the state of Coahuila. In this way he decided to embark on a new course in his life, leaving his wife Adela Bustamante Dueñas in Guanajuato and visiting both the state of Coahuila and the surrounding states.

Around this time Guzmán Valdivia would begin to work with the Employers' Confederation of the Mexican Republic and, in 1938, He would found the Carlos Pereyra High School in Torreón de Coahuila. Later, in 1944 he would go to the Institute of Technology and Higher Studies of Monterrey.

In 1946 he went to live in Mexico City, where he taught sociology at the Centro Cultural Universitario, and Introduction to Philosophy at the Centro Universitario de México from 1948 to 1955. Later he would go on to teach Sociology at the Escuela Libre de Derecho from 1950 to 1986.

In 1947 he wrote his book “For a social metaphysics”, a text in which he analyzes the Mexican social phenomenon but approaching it from a metaphysical perspective. In this work he tries to explain and determine the causes of the existence of the social processes that Mexico in the first half of the 20th century was living, a work with an important Christian influence, a faith that Isaac Guzmán Valdivia kept alive throughout all his works and his life.

In 1949 he participated in the signing of the Mexican Collective Contract, which is considered by many the first great participation of Guzmán Valdivia in the economic sphere of his country, acting as a member of the Commission Technique. This event would lead him to become concerned about the social cause, something that would motivate him to later write his work “The Destiny of Mexico”, with certain nationalist touches and patriotic.

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Representative of Mexico

As we have mentioned, Isaac Guzmán Valdivia was part of the Employers' Confederation of the Republic Mexicana or COPARMEX, originally in Torreón de Coahuila although it would later be moved to Mexico City. in 1945.

In 1947 he would publish his first work really related to the world of administration, “The Employer Organization in Mexico.”. This text exposes several works presented at the National Conventions organized by the Employers' Confederation of the Mexican Republic between 1945 and 1946.

He himself commented in relation to this publication that he was within the business sector, a very fertile place for his work although it was not easy to do it. The businessmen of that time had a very closed mentality and their behavior was very individualistic, radical and uncompromising, making the business world very recalcitrant.

At that time, as leader of the Mexican employers' association, Guzmán Valdivia had the means and authority to initiate changes in the sector. He contributed to the training of officials, people managers and industrial relations directors., who had the power to resolve the problems of relations between unions and employers.

While still in COPARMEX, Guzmán Valdivia would reach the position of national president of the institution and, thanks to this, he represented Mexico in Geneva, Switzerland, before the International Office of the Labor (ILO). He would also represent his country at the International Congress of Administration in Paris and White Sulfur Springs in West Virginia in 1957 and 1958.

Since 1957 He directed the Mexican Association of Scientific Administration, an organization that he founded to train executives of Mexican companies of his time.. Over eight years at that institution he taught courses to more than seven thousand Mexican officials. Furthermore, during this time he would institutionalize the Industrial Relations career in Mexico.

Main works

Isaac Guzmán Valdivia shows influences from foreign administrative culture, although he always based his He worked on the Mexican way of thinking and acting and related it to the business environment to create his own theories. Also, and as we have mentioned before, his works receive Christian influences attributed to various American authors, especially Argentine, Mexican and American authors.

Throughout his life he wrote 24 texts, of which 19 were published and 5 were not published after his death, which occurred on October 22, 1988 at the age of 83. Below we will take a closer look at the works that have given him the most renown in the administrative area: “Reflections on administration”, “The science of administration” and “Our Reconquest, Religion and Nationality".

1. Reflections on administration (1961)

In “Reflections on Administration” Guzmán Valdivia tries to make the business world understand how important it is. administration as a fundamental basis for the management of a society, although he also emphasizes that it is not a science absolute. The reason it is not an exact science is that, as it is linked to the social, it must adapt to the principles and beliefs of each person., that is, to your way of behaving, being and system of beliefs and thinking.

For this reason he claims that it is a serious mistake to give a single approach to administration, since that the population is not homogeneous and the same solution will not work for everyone, not even by much less. Although it is important to have certain structural bases as a standard model, there must be some flexibility, being able to adapt to the way of being and acting of each person.

2. The science of administration (1963)

In “The science of administration” the author talks to us about a widely discussed and quite controversial in the Latin American panorama, which are the foreign influences of the businessmen. In this book exposes how linked the beliefs of company leaders are to administrative processes and how these influence the lives of Mexicans.

One of Isaac Guzmán Valdivia's main contributions to the administration was his arguments in favor of consider it a science, although, as we have commented, not as exact as chemistry or physical. Even so, the author compares several areas and characteristics of the administration of that time with other characteristics that the most exact sciences have, reaching the conclusion that administration is a science practical type.

3. Our Reconquest, Religion and Nationality (1941)

In his book “Our Reconquest, Religion and Nationality” he addresses, as his title itself suggests, aspects related to Mexican nationality, his cultural and ethnic identity as well as the religious importance for him and the rest of the people of Mexico. Here he explains his ideological doctrine, from which we can highlight the following points:

• The nation, as a unit, is above classes or groups.
• The person must have security and freedom to be able to fulfill his wishes with dignity.
• The State must fight for the common good and apply justice, security and defend the collective interest.
• Order in the nation will serve to avoid poverty and ignorance.
• The freedom of man demands that the State not control consciences.
• The State is obliged to provide education, but it should not have a monopoly on this issue.
• Human labor is not a commodity; workers have rights.
• Private initiative must be promoted and guaranteed by the State.
• Private property ensures national production and guarantees human dignity.
• Peasants must have full ownership of their land.
• The State has authority but not ownership in the national economy
• The municipality must be autonomous, responsible and subject to the will of its governed.
• Through law the State exercises justice.
• Political life must be exercised through the will of the people, and be the result of their intelligent decisions.

Bibliographic references:

• Angles-Chávez, A. L. (n.d.) Brief biography of Mr. Isaac Guzmán Valdivia.
• Guzmán-Valdivia, I. (1949) Notes for a theory of social sciences. Proceedings of the First National Congress of Philosophy, Mendoza, Argentina.