The Origins of Managerial Thought
Pre-Industrial Revolution Influences
1000 BC perceptive officials in China were writing about how to manage and control organized human activity
Egyptians and Romans implemented management systems as well late Middle Ages (15th and 16th centuries) Venice and Florence were managing with ‘modern’ procedures
Industrial Revolution in England beginning of the end of the domestic production system= steam engine (1765) factories established themselves in England and to create maximum efficiency, division of labor began (championed by Adam Smith, a founder of modern econ) aside from how to divide up work efficiently, another issue was how to manage these factories’ entrepreneurs or factory owners began to implement management systems (ex. Robert Owen and Charles Babbage)
Industrial Revolution in America
America flourished during IR due to abundance of raw materials and natural resources also gained an advantage from the early trail and error of their English counterparts revolution began in textiles
Railroads=first systematic thinking emerged about how to manage a company more effectively since RR has to organize, coordinate, and supervise multiple operations in widely geographical locations * Pioneers: The Scientific Management Approach rapid growth in # and size of factories in 1865 resulted in increased attention to the issue of how to improve industrial efficiency pro engineers began to address problem in 1880s Henry R. Towne and “The Engineer as Economist”
Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915) developed scientific management which focuses on basic principles for improving performance, basic elements of this as follows: determine the one best way to do each job through precise, objective measurement select the “best persons” for each job train the “best person” in the most efficient methods of performing the