A Timeline of Management and Leadership
1880 - Scientific Management
Frederick Taylor decides to time each and every worker at the Midvale Steel Company. His view of the future becomes highly accurate:
"In the past man was first. In the future the system will be first." - Frederick Taylor
In scientific management the managers were elevated while the workers' roles were negated.
"Science, not rule of thumb, - Frederick Taylor
The decisions of supervisors, based upon experience and intuition, were no longer important. Employees were not allowed to have ideas of responsibility. Yet the question remains — is this promotion of managers to center-stage justified?
1929 - Taylorism
The Taylor Society publishes a revised and updated practitioner's manual: Scientific Management in American Industry.
1932 - The Hawthorne Studies
Elton Mayo becomes the first to question the behavioral assumptions of scientific management. The studies concluded that human factors were often more important than physical conditions in motivating employees to greater productivity.
1946 - Organization Development
Social scientist Kurt Lewin launches the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His contributions in change theory, action research, and action learning earn him the title of the “Father of Organization Development:” the systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels (group, intergroup, and total organization) to bring about planned change.
Lewin is best known for his work in the field of organization development and the study of group dynamics. His research discovered that learning is best facilitated when there is a conflict between immediate concrete experience and detached analysis within the individual. Also see Organizational Behavior.
1949 - Sociotechnical Systems Theory
A group of researchers from London's Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, led by Eric Trist, studied a South Yorkshire coal mine in 1949. Their research leads in the development of the Sociotechnical Systems Theory which considers both the social and the technical aspects when designing jobs. It marks a 180-degree departure from Frederick Taylor's scientific management. There are four basic components to sociotechnical theory:
- environment subsystem
- social subsystem
- technical subsystem
- organizational design.
1954 - Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is published in his book Motivation and Personality. This provides a framework for gaining employees' commitment.
1954 - Leadership/Management
Drucker writes The Practice of Management and introduces the 5 basic roles of managers. He writes:
The first question in discussing organization structure must be: What is our business and what should it be? Organization structure must be designed so as to make possible the attainment of objectives of the business for five, ten, fifteen years hence."
1959 - Hygiene and Motivational Factors
Frederick Herzberg developed a list of factors which are closely based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, except it more closely related to work. Hygiene factors must be present in the job before motivators can be used to stimulate the workers.
1960 - Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y principles influence the design and implementation of personnel policies and practices.
Late 1960s - Action Learning
An Unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium — Action Learning — it leads to an upturn in Belgian's economy.
Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they are worth nothing. - the British academic Reg Revens, creator of action learning:
L = P + Q ([L] Learning occurs through a combination of programmed knowledge [P] and the ability to ask insightful questions [Q])
Note that Revens work has had little impact on this side of the ocean, although it remains one of the best ways to learn and to bring about productive change in the organization.
1964 - Management Grid
Robert Blake and Jane Mouton develop a management model that conceptualizes management styles and relations. Their Grid uses two axis. "Concern for people" is plotted using the vertical axis and "Concern for task" is along the horizontal axis. The notion that just two dimensions can describe a managerial behavior has the attraction of simplicity.
1978 - Performance Technology
Tom Gilbert publishes Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance. It describes the behavioral-engineering model which become the bible of performance technology. Gilbert wrote that accomplishment specification is the only logical way to define performance requirements. Accomplishments are the best starting points for developing performance standards. In addition, accomplishments are the best tools for the development of performance-based job descriptions as they allow management to describe the measurement that is important to the organization, specific to the position, and observable.
1978 - Excellence
McKinsey's John Larson asks his colleague, Tom Peters, to step in at the last minute and make a presentation that leads to In Search of Excellence. Thus Tom Peters spawns the birth of the “Management Guru Business.”
1990 - Learning Organization
Peter Senge popularized the Learning Organization in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. He describes the organization as an organism with the capacity to enhance its capabilities and shape its own future. A learning organization is any organization (e.g. school, business, government agency) that understands itself as a complex, organic system that has a vision and purpose. It uses feedback systems and alignment mechanisms to achieve its goals. It values teams and leadership throughout the ranks. He called for five disciplines:
- System Thinking
- Personal Mastery
- Mental Models
- Shared Vision
- Team Learning
1995 - Ethics
On December 11, 1995 a fire burned most of Malden Mills to the ground and put 3,000 people out of work. Most of the 3,000 thought they were out of work permanently. CEO Aaron Feuerstein says, “This is not the end” — he spent millions keeping all 3,000 employees on the payroll with full benefits for 3 months until he could get another factory up and running. Why? He answers, “The fundamental difference is that I consider our workers an asset, not an expense.” Related concept — Ethos and Leadership.
Business Process Management (BPM) - 2000
This is actually a slow advance in process management that has the following roots:
- Record Management
- Workflow - 1970
- Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) - 1990
- Business Process Management (BPM) - 2000
Return to the main History page