THE EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT, 6TH EDITION

Electronic Resource by:Regina Greenwood and Julia Teahen

Scientific Management in Theory & Practice

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Scientific Management in Theory & Practice

Impact of scientific management on management education

Impact of scientific management on international management and other disciplines

The spread of management ideas moved beyond the factory leading to the emergency of general management

Education for Industrial Management Early in the 20th Century,

the teaching of management in colleges focused on production management based on Taylor’s writings.

Daniel Nelson’s observedthat scientific management gave credibility to the study of business.

Business schools at thetime were consideredtoo vocational.

Adams/Price Hall - Business School, University of Oklahoma 

Early Management Educators M. Clarence Bertrand

Thompson(1882-1969): Taught management

at Harvard from 1908-1917.

Compiled the most extensive management bibliography of the period.

Furthered the scientific management movement in academia, industry, and abroad as a consultant.

Early Management Educators Harlow S. Person (1875-1955) created

management course at Dartmouth, expanded the Taylor Society, and recognized the importance of social scientists.

Leon Pratt Alford (1877-1942) pioneered the concept of management handbooks, influenced journals through his work and books, and emulated Gantt’s call for service to the community.

The International Scientific Management Movement The “management revolution” spread abroad

as a product of the United States. In France, industrialists tended to implement

scientific management to increase productivity without following Taylor’s advice. Taylorisme became a dirty word for French workers.

Charles de Freminville with Le Chatelier formed the Conference de l’Organisation Francaise in 1920 to advance management in France.

Hans Renold instituted scientific management in his British firm but the movement was largely rejected in Great Britain.

The International Scientific Management Movement

Henri Fayol formed the Center for Administrative Studies in France in 1917.

He declared his work complemented Taylor’s.

First CIOS meeting held in Prague in 1924.

The Twentieth Century Fund and the IMI worked to promote management in Europe.

In Poland, Adamiecki’s “harmonogram” was similar to PERT.

The International Scientific Management Movement

In the USSR (the Soviet Union at the time): Lenin advocated Taylorism after 1917, but little

came of this in practice. Lenin thought scientific management would

assist the socialist revolution; others distrusted capitalistic ideas.

Higher productivity through competition was accepted, not better job analysis and work methods.

Walter Polakov was successful in getting the USSR to use Gantt Charts for their five year plans.

Scientific Management Internationally In Japan, Taylor’s ideas

gained widespread acceptance after their translation appeared in 1912.

The Japanese liked the idea of harmony, cooperation, and mutual interest.

What modern scholars call Japanese style management had its roots in the work of Taylor.

Yoichi Ueno was a leading teacher, author, and consultant. The above picture was taken with

Harrington Emerson in Japan in 1925.

Scientific Management in Industrial Practice

Model scientific management installations: Plimpton Press – Henry P. Kendall; 186%

reduction in labor turnover Link-Belt – James Mapes Dodge Clothcraft – Richard Feiss and Mary B. Gilson;

combined Taylor’s ideas with personnel work Tabor Manufacturing – Horace King

Hathaway; 250% output increase Scientific Management was recognized for

reducing costly labor turnover.

Scientific Management in Industrial Practice The Hoxie Study highlighted the difference

between the notions of scientific management and how well they were implemented.

The Hoxie Study was viewed as biased toward labor and conducted in a superficial manner.

Other studies by C.B. Thompson and Daniel Nelson reinforce this uneven application of scientific management.

Nelson concluded that scientific management had a “strong positive correlation” with industrial efficiency. In addition, scientific management was “associated with growth not stagnation” in most industries.

Industrial Practice

Data refutes the belief that scientific management led to a de-skilling of workers.

Skilled and semi-skilled workers increased from 1900 to 1920.

Scientific management was associated with batch shop production and labor intensive operations.

In capital intensive industries, or automobile assembly lines, it was less useful.

Assembly line at Ford 1924, courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection

Emerging General Management Scientific Management dominated the late 19th

and early 20th centuries. But, in the early 20th century, indications of a

broader concept of management developed. Other disciplines began to search for efficiency

through science: Public administration Marketing Accounting AMA founded in 1923

Early Organizational Theory

Russell Robb (1864-1927): 1909 lectures at HBS Attempted a compromise between the old

military style of management and the new conditions of industry.

He felt that organizations differed as to goals sought as well as means to those goals.

Because of organizational differences, there was no one best way to organize.

He looked beyond scientific management to see the organization as a whole system.

Scientific Management at DuPont and General Motors DuPont Powder Co. and

General Motors led innovative organizational development.

DuPont Psychological tests for

personnel selection Donaldson Brown and

Return on Investment (ROI) as R = T X P

Separated line and staff

Pierre DuPont

William C. Durant

William C. Durant

From Pierre S. DuPont and the Making of the Modern Corporation by Alfred D. Chandler. Harper & Row 1971.

Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. (1875-966)

Sloan led General Motors from 1923 to 1956.

Created centralized policy, control, and review.

Decentralized administration and operations.

Enabled decentralized parts to work for a common goal.

Established the Sloan Foundation

Source: http://www.amazon.com

DuPont and General Motors

Both used multidivisional structures organized around product divisions.

These divisions could were decentralized for operations and performance could be measured by ROI.

Origins of the “M-Form” Organization – allowed growth without the encumbrance of a functional organization structure.

Business Policy and Philosophy The idea of collegiate schools of business

spread. By 1925, 38 schools belonged to the ACSB

(today’s AACSB). Arch W. Shaw taught a policy course at

Harvard in 1912 based on cases. It integrated business subjects.

Alexander H. Church (1866-1936) broadened Taylor’s concepts to include policy and implementation.

Oliver Sheldon (1894-1951) sought to combine the efficiency with the ethics of service.

Summary

Scientific Management was a force in: the formal study of management the practice of management in the US,

Great Britain, Europe, Japan, and the USSR.

broadening the scope of management the study of organizations the development of business policy and

the philosophy of management.