Whitston, Kevin (1995) Scientific management practice in Britain : a history. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study traces the influence of scientific management on the development of
modem management methods in Britain from the end of the 19th century to the
outbreak of the second world war. It is concerned with both the organisation of
work and the management of the worker, with employers' labour strategies and
worker and trade union responses. The Introduction discusses key concepts like
Taylorism, Fordism and mass production; chapter one identifies technical and
managerial changes taking place at the turn of the century and the reception
Taylorism received in Britain; chapter 2 is mainly concerned with premium bonus
schemes and the impact of the first world war; chapter 3 analyses the growth of
new management functions and roles, particularly production engineering between
the wars; chapter 4 discusses the impact of mechanisation and deskilling on
workers in the engineering industry; chapter 5 traces the growth of piecework
schemes and time study, the significance of the Bedaux system, and the impact of
worker resistance. A postscript and a conclusion relate these themes to the post
second world war history of work study and to contemporary debates about
flexible specialisation and post-Fordism.
Three key issues are addressed the meaning of scientific management, the extent
to which employers adopted scientific management practices, its impact on
workers and the effect of worker resistance.
It is argued that, if scientific management is located historically, it is seen to be
concerned with the management of production as well as the management of the
worker; with production engineering, progress and planning departments, as well
as time and motion study and incentive payment schemes. As such it is not
reducible to any particular form of Taylorist practice.
Employers were slow to develop the new management methods. Slow adaptation
to change was part of the more general problem of relative economic decline. But
both were uneven. British employers were reluctant to abandon tools and
techniques which still made money but some did, and more followed. Taylorism
was more positively received in Britain than has been suggested and was widely
accepted by the end of the first world war. Its impact on managerial practice can be
traced in the inter-war period in the development of production engineering and
more rigorous payment systems, including those inspired by Bedaux.
A 'deskilling dynamic', centred on a new split between mental and manual labour,
was fatally undermining both craftsman and foreman in the engineering industry,
though it owed more to the jig and tool designer, and more broadly, the
management of mechanisation than the efficiency engineer. But changes in the
labour process also affected women and semi and unskilled men and they were
centrally involved in shop floor resistance to 'speed-up'. Resistance modified but
could not prevent the restructuring of the labour process consequent upon
scientific management.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Industrial management -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century, Employees -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century
Official Date:	January 1995
Dates:	Date Event January 1995 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Industrial and Business Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Hyman, Richard ; Edwards, P. K. (Paul K.)
Extent:	ix, 386 p.
Language:	eng

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