Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Theory since 1945 by Stephen P. Waring

Abstract

812 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Theory since 1945. By Stephen P. Waring. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Pp. xi + 288; notes, bibliography, index. $34.95. In recent decades, consultants who apply social science theory to the operations of large corporations have been among the most prominent and successful American entrepreneurs. Mostly univer­ sity professors, they have proven remarkably versatile, supplying a technique for every situation and an answer for every question. Their impact is less certain: clients, however eager, often reject their advice or recast it into unrecognizable form. According to Stephen Waring, a more fundamental obstacle is their failure to address the most critical deficiencies of the corporation, failings that arise from a commitment to hierarchical organization, centralized direction, and specialized tasks, or what Waring calls “Taylorism.” Waring’s account, the best introduction to the trade in social science ideas between the 1950s and 1980s, is also a commentary on the prob­ lematic relationship between the modern university and the world of business. Waring examines six efforts to revise the status quo of the post— World War II years. He distinguishes between “post-Taylor” activities (after Frederick W. Taylor), which attempted to make the organiza­ tion more machine-like, and “post-Mayo” activities (after the psychol­ ogist and management theorist Elton Mayo), which sought to create a more integrated, corporatist organization. Waring characterizes op­ erations research and the work of Herbert A. Simon as post-Taylor and that of Peter Drucker and proponents of sensitivity training, job enrichment, and Japanese management methods as post-Mayo. His critiques of Simon and Drucker are the heart of the book. Although he is hostile to both, his treatment of Simon, emphasizing Simon’s arrogance and anti-intellectualism, is particularly devastating. Drucker fares somewhat better. Like most of Drucker’s readers, Waring is fascinated by his efforts to make management intelligible and interesting. Waring’s contribution is to trace Drucker’s most salient ideas to his background in European political and economic theory, especially to the ideas of 19th- and early-20th-century corpo­ ratist philosophers. Whereas Simon’s impact was mostly indirect, through his influence on business education, Drucker spoke directly to executives, and his influence should be more obvious. Waring concludes, however, that it has been negligible. Drucker’s most important specific proposal, “Management by Objectives,” sought to reintegrate the white-collar hierarchy but proved to be impossibly complicated and unworkable and enjoyed only a brief vogue. Like Taylor himself, Drucker apparently was most influential as a publicist and ideologue. His critical contribution may well have been to pave the way for other corporatist thinkers. TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 813 Waring’s examinations of these individuals and movements, such as sensitivity training and job enrichment, are useful guides to comparatively little-known developments of recent decades. Still, as brief chapters in a relatively short book, they are more scholarly hors d’oeuvres than substantial entrees; other researchers will have much to add. Indeed, Waring’s treatment of the Japanese impact on American management may already be outdated, as it becomes clearer that Japanese innovations in purchasing, materials manage­ ment, and accounting have contributed more than quality circles and other personnel measures that attracted attention in the 1970s. Waring repeatedly emphasizes the tepid character of the changes that Simon, Drucker, et al. proposed. His point is well taken, although he might have selected other examples, such as industrial relations techniques, that were more far-reaching and permanent. With few exceptions, however, post—World War II social scientists believed that bigness was inevitable and desirable; their reforms were simply to help business avoid the fate of government bureaucracies. Did they succeed? The willingness of corporate executives to spend large sums on consultants suggests a certain receptivity to the new or nearly new. More important, the corporate reorganizations of recent years have often aimed at precisely the problems Drucker and other theorists emphasized. Waring’s antipathy to corporations leads him to overlook several potentially fruitful opportunities. His insistence on viewing the cor­ poration as a political entity, a mechanism for exercising power, deters him from contributing to the current debate among economic histo­ rians over...