The Development of Management Science: (Classics in Management)

The first collection in the Classics in Management serires focuses on the 19th and early 20th century and the impact of the industrial revolution. Complete works, extracts and articles from journals illustrate the beginnings of management as we know it today. The first volume concentrates on early texts which first defined the approach to the science of management, such as Robert Owen's address "To the Superintendents of Manufactories". Owen's insistence that the volume and quality of output were influenced by the conditions of the worker's total environment shaped the direciton managemnt theory was to take. Selections from Henry Metcalfe on the science of administration, Henry Lawrence Gannt introducing the concept of motivation, and Henry Robinson Towne on the importance of the organized exchange of experience among managers, all represnet particularly valid contributions to management technique. Charles Babbage's On the Economy of Machines and Manufactures is probably the earliest and most significant work as it sets the premises on which modern management theory is based: that definite principles of management exist, that they cna be determined by experience, and that they can be applied broadly through the interchange of experience. The four volumes devoted to Frederick Winslow Taylor pay tribute to his status as the most influential of the management pioneers. Taylor applied scientific method to the solution of factory problems and from these analyses built orderly sets of priciples which replaced the trial and error method then in use. Emerson's Principles was another signifcant contribution, whcih laid the foundations of what today we describe as "management by objective", and Gilbreth's attention to organizational detail led to the development of motion study as a basic management method.

Table of Contents:
Classics of Modern Management Theory (1813-1949) 304pp On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures [1832] Charles Babbage 342pp The Principles of Scientific Management [1911] 148pp Shop Management [1903] 143pp Father of Scientific Management. Volume 1 [1923] 500pp Father of Scientific Management. Volume 2 [1923] Frederick W Taylor 484pp Motion Study. A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman [1911] Frank B Gilbreth 144pp Efficiency as a Basis for Operation and Wages [1909] Harrington Emmerson 176pp The Twelve Principles of Efficiency [1909] Harrington Emmerson 448pp Scientific Management, A Collection of the more Significant Articles Describing the Taylor System of Management [1914] Clarence B Thompson 890pp