This study aims to demonstrate that in the latter years of his life, Frederick Winslow Taylor embraced union participation in management decision-making and that interwar US Taylor…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to demonstrate that in the latter years of his life, Frederick Winslow Taylor embraced union participation in management decision-making and that interwar US Taylor Society members and organized labor extended his support for this endeavor.
Design/methodology/approach
This study engages with primary materials not previously present in the management history literature and secondary works generated by researchers in disciplines commonly ignored by management scholars.
Findings
This study contests the claim that the scientific managers reached out to unions only after Taylor’s death and demonstrates Taylor welcomed union participation in the management of enterprises, held it was necessary to “show” and not merely “tell” unions that scientific management could be “good” for them, that his inner circle and organized labor jointly promoted these propositions within F.D. Roosevelt’s New Deal administration, and that the US union movement was eventually compelled to settle for a form of industrial relations pluralism that limited their participation to bargaining over the conditions of employment and consequently doomed them to a disastrous future.
Practical implications
This study might support trade unionists develop strategies that may dampen employer hostility and thus revitalize the labor movement and assist management studies rediscover insights that once enabled the discipline to evolve beyond the enterprise. The latter is necessary for this study to live in an age when an increasing number of liberal market economies are characterized by austerity and retrenchment.
Originality/value
This study provides new evidence that demonstrates that Frederick Taylor embraced union participation in enterprise management and also that Taylor Society members actually made a significant contribution to Roosevelt’s New Deal labor policies.
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Jane Whitney Gibson, Jack Deem, Jacqueline E. Einstein and John H. Humphreys
The purpose of this study is to examine the life and work of Frank Gilbreth using a critical biographical approach to draw connections between his life experiences and the major…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the life and work of Frank Gilbreth using a critical biographical approach to draw connections between his life experiences and the major contributions he made to management history.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design is critical biography. First, a biography is provided that reveals critical incidents from his childhood, his early career before marriage, his life after his marriage and his key personality traits. Gilbreth’s major contributions to management thought are then considered in context of his biography.
Findings
Although Frank Gilbreth is recalled for his contributions to management history through his work in advancing efficiency through motion studies, he should likewise be credited for his foresight of management theories related to the human element in organizations. The major influences on Gilbreth’s career include Lillian Gilbreth and Frederick Taylor.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of critical biography is that researchers cannot address causality but, rather, are focused on drawing connections between life experiences and significant accomplishments.
Originality/value
Critical biography can illuminate theory and practice by providing greater clarity by examining concepts in depth and in context. The authors situate Frank Gilbreth’s work in the context of his lived experiences.
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Aditya Simha and David J. Lemak
Frederick Taylor, the “Father of Scientific Management” is recognized as a pioneer in the field of management. However, many unfair criticisms have been leveled at him starting…
Abstract
Purpose
Frederick Taylor, the “Father of Scientific Management” is recognized as a pioneer in the field of management. However, many unfair criticisms have been leveled at him starting with the infamous Congressional hearings of 1911. Many scholars of management history believe that such criticisms have resulted in negative portrayals of Frederick Taylor in both practitioner and academic circles, and even in some basic management textbooks. This is unfortunate because many of those criticisms result from either a failure to read and understand Taylor's original works or from misinterpretations of them. The purpose of this paper is to contend that students of management will develop a more accurate impression of Frederick Taylor if they read his words and not interpretations of them.
Design/methodology/approach
First, an introduction of Frederick Taylor and scientific management is presented. Then, a categorization of common criticisms of Taylor is offered. The results of a study conducted to measure undergraduate business students' impressions of Taylor from their exposure to him in an introductory management course are then presented. The students then give their impressions of statements taken from Taylor's original work and are tested on the differences between them.
Findings
The results of the analyses suggest that students have a negative impression of Taylor from their textbooks, but their reaction to statements taken from the original works of Taylor are rated quite favorably.
Practical implications
Future research could be conducted to determine whether the works of other seminal management theorists should be presented in their complete contexts and direct sources to provide students with a more accurate and complete portrayal of their ideas.
Originality/value
This paper is unique in that it empirically tests whether negative attitudes towards Frederick Taylor and scientific management persist after students are exposed to original source works.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how Frederick Taylor's achievement as the originator of a science of work provided a theoretical foundation for first generation academic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how Frederick Taylor's achievement as the originator of a science of work provided a theoretical foundation for first generation academic management programs in the Progressive era. The paper aims to show the implications of this match for Taylor's continuing high position in the history of management thought.
Design/methodology/approach
A methodology is used involving analysis of published and unpublished historical sources including Taylor's own work, writings from his contemporaries, and writings from key figures in first generation university public‐ and business‐management programs.
Findings
The paper gives evidence of the impact of Taylor's work on management education in the Progressive era and the implications of this impact for Taylor's reputation and the management programs themselves.
Originality/value
The analysis uses a wide variety of published and unpublished sources. It compares educational developments in the public and business management fields which are generally analyzed in separate literatures.
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Yufeng Ren, Changqing Bai and Hongyan Zhang
This study aims to investigate the formation and characteristics of Taylor bubbles resulting from short-time gas injection in liquid-conveying pipelines. Understanding these…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the formation and characteristics of Taylor bubbles resulting from short-time gas injection in liquid-conveying pipelines. Understanding these characteristics is crucial for optimizing pipeline efficiency and enhancing production safety.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted short-time gas injection experiments in a vertical rectangular pipe, focusing on Taylor bubble formation time and stable length. Computational fluid dynamics simulations using large eddy simulation and volume of fluid models were used to complement the experiments.
Findings
Results reveal that the stable length of Taylor bubbles is significantly influenced by gas injection velocity and duration. Specifically, high injection velocity and duration lead to increased bubble aggregation and recirculation region capture, extending the stable length. Additionally, a higher injection velocity accelerates reaching the critical local gas volume fraction, thereby reducing formation time. The developed fitting formulas for stable length and formation time show good agreement with experimental data, with average errors of 6.5% and 7.39%, respectively. The predicted values of the formulas in glycerol-water and ethanol solutions are also in good agreement with the simulation results.
Originality/value
This research provides new insights into Taylor bubble dynamics under short-time gas injection, offering predictive formulas for bubble formation time and stable length. These findings are valuable for optimizing industrial pipeline designs and mitigating potential safety issues.
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Pierre L. Siklos and Mark E. Wohar
Relying on Clive Granger's many and varied contributions to econometric analysis, this paper considers some of the key econometric considerations involved in estimating Taylor…
Abstract
Relying on Clive Granger's many and varied contributions to econometric analysis, this paper considers some of the key econometric considerations involved in estimating Taylor-type rules for US data. We focus on the roles of unit roots, cointegration, structural breaks, and non-linearities to make the case that most existing estimates are based on an unbalanced regression. A variety of estimates reveal that neglected cointegration results in the omission of a necessary error correction term and that Federal Reserve (Fed) reactions during the Greenspan era appear to have been asymmetric. We argue that error correction and non-linearities may be one way to estimate Taylor rules over long samples when the underlying policy regime may have changed significantly.
Christina Anderl and Guglielmo Maria Caporale
The article aims to establish whether the degree of aversion to inflation and the responsiveness to deviations from potential output have changed over time.
Abstract
Purpose
The article aims to establish whether the degree of aversion to inflation and the responsiveness to deviations from potential output have changed over time.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper assesses time variation in monetary policy rules by applying a time-varying parameter generalised methods of moments (TVP-GMM) framework.
Findings
Using monthly data until December 2022 for five inflation targeting countries (the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden) and five countries with alternative monetary regimes (the US, Japan, Denmark, the Euro Area, Switzerland), we find that monetary policy has become more averse to inflation and more responsive to the output gap in both sets of countries over time. In particular, there has been a clear shift in inflation targeting countries towards a more hawkish stance on inflation since the adoption of this regime and a greater response to both inflation and the output gap in most countries after the global financial crisis, which indicates a stronger reliance on monetary rules to stabilise the economy in recent years. It also appears that inflation targeting countries pay greater attention to the exchange rate pass-through channel when setting interest rates. Finally, monetary surprises do not seem to be an important determinant of the evolution over time of the Taylor rule parameters, which suggests a high degree of monetary policy transparency in the countries under examination.
Originality/value
It provides new evidence on changes over time in monetary policy rules.
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Although the ideas of F.W. Taylor have profoundly marked the twentieth century, they do not seem to have been understood in the same way by the people who have studied them. Aims…
Abstract
Although the ideas of F.W. Taylor have profoundly marked the twentieth century, they do not seem to have been understood in the same way by the people who have studied them. Aims to enrich our understanding of the ideas of this remarkable author. Proposes a graphic representation of Taylor’s thinking in the form of a cognitive map. Then analyses the structure and content of the map using the Decision Explorer software package. Most of the concepts and links shown in the map were drawn from “Shop management”, and the remainder were taken from The Principles of Scientific Management. The results highlight the relative importance of the concepts used by Taylor, the dimensions on which he more or less consciously structured his thinking, together with the characteristics of the concepts he considered basically as “explanations” or “consequences”, and the more or less systemic or circular logic that guided him in the organization of his thinking. Discusses the limitations of the results and some future avenues for research.
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Jolene H. Bodily and Kristin J. Behfar
Hasn’t everyone at some point felt as if the universe was conspiring against his or her success? This case narrative tracks the story of Emmett Taylor, an operations manager for a…
Abstract
Hasn’t everyone at some point felt as if the universe was conspiring against his or her success? This case narrative tracks the story of Emmett Taylor, an operations manager for a bottling company, as a snow and ice storm bears down on his southeastern U.S. plant. Taylor is already plagued by stress caused by all facets of his life-family, work, and personal health-and this storm is no exception. The story offers an opportunity to discuss time, energy, and priority management; individual behavior from a type-A personality; work-life balance; organizational behavior; and leadership. This case is a suitable substitution for the classic best-selling Darden case “John Wolford” (UVA-OB-0167).
This paper documents the publishing exposure of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management subsequent to the February 1911 private printing. In doing so, the…
Abstract
This paper documents the publishing exposure of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management subsequent to the February 1911 private printing. In doing so, the paper completes a chronology of the multiple occasions that Taylor’s classic occurred in print. Landmarks in the publishing history of Taylor’s “principles” following the private printing include its appearance in The American Magazine and The Journal of Accountancy. Following these serialized mediums, the trade edition ‐ the most familiar version ‐ was published. These and various other forms of Taylor’s “principles” were basically the same discourse. However, the details of the various occurrences and Taylor’s related personal correspondence proffer glimpses of the personality of the man and of his motives.