THE EVOLUTION

OF MANAGEMENT
THOUGHT, 6
TH

EDITION
Electronic Resource by:
Regina Greenwood and Julia Teahen

Scientific Management in Retrospect
CHAPTER TWELVE
Scientific Management in
Retrospect
The Economic Environment
Technology
The Social Environment
The Political Environment
The Economic Environment
The United States was in transition from an agrarian to
an industrial nation. In this period of growth, scientific
management provided a means whereby a better
utilization of resources could occur.
The U.S. worker prospered, both in real wages and
reduced hours of work.
More employees were in management with the addition
of staff specialists. This growth in managerial hierarchy
made it more critical to plan, organize, etc.
The Economic Environment
Alfred Chandlers
rationalization of
resource utilization
describes the needs of
industry during this era.
The ideas of the
scientific management
pioneers fit these needs.
Industrial efficiency was
increasing, partially due
to scientific
management.

Alfred D. Chandler
Courtesy of Harvard Business School
The Economic Environment
America was uniquely diverse
1890-1920:
Immigrants were 80% of
New Yorks population.
More Irish lived in the US
than in Ireland.
71% of Fords labor force
was foreign born.
Developing systems and
procedures and
standardization was more
important with the
heterogeneous workforce.
Productivity increased due to:
Methods of mass production.
Taylorism (Scientific
Management)
Cheaper sources of power
The 1909 Model T.

Technology: Opening New
Horizons
Enterprises developed
and grew 247 of the
Fortune 500 were
founded from 1880-
1929.
New technologies
developed:
Bessemer process in
steel
Oil refining
Internal combustion
engine
Synthetic material
Telephony
Electric energy

Bessemer process in steel
Technology: Opening New
Horizons
The automobile changed
peoples lives and
created a new industry.
Henry Ford, Charles
Sorenson and their
associates at Ford
created the moving
assembly line for mass
production.
1910 2,773 workers
produced 18,664 cars
1914 12,880 workers
produced 248,307 cars


Henry Ford
The Social Environment
The Social Environment
Horatio Alger, Jr.
characterized the success
ethic of U.S. enterprise.
Scientific management ideas
were consonant with the
social values of self-directing,
high need for achievement,
individuals
Change came as the Western
frontier closed; William G.
Scott called this the Collision
Effect, which would lead to a
transition period of
individualism being replaced
by a social ethic.
Taylors cooperation, not
individualism bridged the
gap between the social and
individualistic ethics.
The Social Environment
The Social Gospel shaped personnel management
acting as a counterpoint to social Darwinism and
precursor to progressivism.
Followers of the Social Gospel, like Robert G. Valentine,
thought unions were instruments of social and economic
reform.
A reciprocal work-welfare equation linked the
progressives and scientific management.
Efficiency was also advocated by conservationists,
feminists, and religious leaders.

The Political Environment
The political articulation
of the Social Gospel was
the Populist-Progressive
Movement.
Scientific management
appealed to the
Progressives, especially
Morris Cooke.
Scientific management
offered leadership by
expertise and
knowledge, not class, so
it appealed to moderate
Progressives like Louis
Brandeis, Herbert Croly,
and Walter Lippman.
Lewis Hine (1915)
The Political Environment
An increasing regulation of
business under Theodore
Roosevelt after 1901
overcame the inadequacies
of the earlier Sherman Act.
Tax rate comparison
Underwood-Simmons Tariff
Act of 1913.
1% on personal incomes
over $3,000
Surtax added
progressively on incomes
up to $20,000
Maximum tax rate of 7%
on incomes in excess of
$500,000 (compared to
35% today)


Theodore Roosevelt,
courtesy of the Constitution Society
Summary of Part Two
Taylor was the focus for a deeper philosophy of
managing human and physical resources in a
more technologically advanced world.
Taylors disciples improved productivity and
service to society.
Fayol and Weber, Taylors contemporaries, also
reflected a rational approach to enterprise.
Taylor and his followers were affected by and did
affect the times.

Part Two Internet Resources
Academy of Management Management History Division Website
http://www.aomhistory.baker.edu/departments/leadership/mgthistory/links.html
List of Internet Resources compiled by Charles Booth
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/MANAGEMENT-HISTORY/links.htm
Western Libraries Business Library Biographies of Gurus
http://www.lib.uwo.ca/business/gurus.html
Frederick Winslow Taylor
http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_02.html
Fascinating Facts about Frederick Winslow Taylor
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/taylor.htm
Who Made America Frederick Winslow Taylor
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/taylor_lo.html
Films of Westinghouse Works 1904
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/papr/west/westhome.html

END OF PART TWO