The Movement for Scientific Management in Europe between the Wars

Abstract

In the summer of 1924, a group of fifty American management experts traveled to Prague, amongst them some of the big names in the field such as H. S. Person, director of the Taylor Society, L. W. Wallace, secretary of the American Engineering Council and Lillian Gilbreth. They were the guests of honor on a congress that was proudly announced as the first international management congress. The purpose of the congress was “the building up of a single world-system of activity for the scientific management of work”. This first congress would be followed by many others. Before World War II, the management experts gathered in Brussels (1925), Rome (1927),Paris (1929), Amsterdam (1932), London (1935) and Washington (1938). In total some 9000 people attended these meetings, an average of 1300 at each conference. The organization soon came torest in the hands of a permanent board, the Comite International de l’Organisation Scientifique (CIOS), which was officially installed on 27 September 1927. This organization still exists, now under the name World Council of Management (but the old abbreviation CIOS is still being used).