Nancy Koehn, a historian at Harvard Business School, Michela Giorcelli from UCLA, and Louis Hyman of Cornell University dive into the origins of scientific management, pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor. They discuss how this approach revolutionized industrial practices, the critiques it faced over worker treatment, and its surprising ties to both labor movements and Lenin-era efficiency strategies. The guest speakers also reflect on Taylorism's enduring legacy in modern workplaces and question the balance between productivity and human dignity.
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insights INSIGHT
Early Worker Management
In 1878, worker management varied significantly across industries and locations, influenced by tradition.
The steel industry, for example, was just beginning to understand economies of scale and how to organize labor and capital.
insights INSIGHT
Shifting Concepts of Productivity
The concept of productivity as we know it today emerged with the shift from small craft shops to large factories.
This transition also changed social relationships at work, as apprentices and masters working side-by-side were replaced by wage workers and bosses.
insights INSIGHT
Productivity and Management
Productivity is a relatively recent concept, tied to the rise of large-scale businesses during the Industrial Revolution.
As businesses grew, the need to coordinate workers across different units and locations led to the development of management practices.
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Published in 1911, 'The Principles of Scientific Management' by Frederick Winslow Taylor is a highly influential study that laid out his views on scientific management. Taylor argued that by applying scientific principles and research methods, industrial enterprises could achieve maximum prosperity for both employers and employees. He proposed four key principles: developing a science for each element of work, scientifically selecting and training workers, ensuring cooperation between management and workers, and dividing work and responsibility between management and workers. The book includes case studies, such as the famous example of moving pig iron at the Bethlehem Steel Company, to support his theories. Taylor's approach, known as 'Taylorism,' has had a lasting impact on management science and industrial engineering[2][4][5].
In 1878, a machinist at a Pennsylvania steelworks noticed that his crew was producing much less than he thought they could. With stopwatches and time-motion studies, Frederick Winslow Taylor ran experiments to find the optimal way to make the most steel with lower labor costs. It was the birth of a management theory, called scientific management or Taylorism.
Critics said Taylor’s drive for industrial efficiency depleted workers physically and emotionally. Resentful laborers walked off the job. The U.S. Congress held hearings on it. Still, scientific management was the dominant management theory 100 years ago in October of 1922, when Harvard Business Review was founded.
It spread around the world, fueled the rise of big business, and helped decide World War II. And today it is baked into workplaces, from call centers to restaurant kitchens, gig worker algorithms, and offices. Although few modern workers would recognize Taylorism, and few employers would admit to it.
4 Business Ideas That Changed the World is a special series from HBR IdeaCast. Each week, an HBR editor talks to world-class scholars and experts on the most influential ideas of HBR’s first 100 years, such as disruptive innovation, shareholder value, and emotional intelligence.
Discussing scientific management with HBR senior editor Curt Nickisch are:
HBR IdeaCast 