One best way: Frank and Lillian Gilbreth's transformation of scientific management, 1885-1940. (Volumes I and II)
Abstract
Between roughly 1870 and 1930, the process of the transition from laissez-faire to oligopolistic capitalism transformed the nature of American work as modern management usurped workers' power and control over production processes. The relocation of power did not take place without struggle. Led by Frederick Taylor's scientific managers, the new management forces met fierce opposition, particularly from workers organized in the American Federation of Labor. In the midst of this struggle, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth tried to improve the science in scientific management by developing motion study, and the management in scientific management by advocating a more responsive and psychologically shrewd approach to the troublesome "human element." Though the Gilbreths' innovations led first to their ouster from the ranks of Taylor's disciples and then to years of open feuding with them, their innovations became increasingly central to modern management methods. With AFL power blunted in the aftermath of World War I, and with personnel and industrial relations challenging scientific management for precedence in leading industrial reorganization, scientific managers gravitated more and more toward the acceptance of the Gilbreths' ideas and methods. By the beginning of World War II, having reabsorbed the Gilbreths' innovations, scientific management was both transformed and ascendent.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Woodman, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American history|Management|Operations research|Biographies
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