4 Business ideas that changed the world

At a steelworks in Pennsylvania in 1878, a machinist realized that his team was producing significantly less than he had anticipated. Frederick Winslow Taylor conducted research using stopwatches and time-motion studies to determine the best method for producing the most steel with the least amount of effort. It marked the beginning of the scientific management or Taylorism management theory.

Taylor’s pursuit of industrial efficiency, according to critics, left workers emotionally and physically exhausted. Angry workers left their jobs. Hearings on it were held by the US Congress. Still, when Harvard Business Review was established in October 1922, scientific management was the prevailing management ideology.

It extended around the globe, aided in the development of large businesses, and influenced the outcome of World War II. And this day is a steelworks in Pennsylvania in 1878, a machinist realized that his team was producing significantly less than he had anticipated. Frederick Winslow Taylor conducted research using stopwatches and time-motion studies to determine the best method for producing the most steel with the least amount of effort. It marked the beginning of the scientific management or Taylorism management theory.

Curt Nickisch, senior editor of HBR, and I talked about scientific management.

Historian Nancy Koehn from Harvard Business School

UCLA economic scholar Michela Giorcell   

Louis Hyman, a Cornell University historian of work and labor

Additional reading

Robert Kanigel’s book, The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency

Case Study: Thomas K. McCraw’s “Mass Production and the Origins of Scientific Management”

Influential management and commercial ideas have a significant impact on us. Whether you like it or not, they influence how businesses are managed and how individuals live their lives. Since its establishment in 1922, Harvard Business Review has introduced and disseminated many of these important concepts.

In honor of its 100th birthday, HBR IdeaCast is posing the question, “How have these ideas affected our lives?” And in what direction are they leading us later on? The audio feed will include a special series called “4 Business Ideas That Changed the World” every Thursday in October.

The key business and management concepts of the first 100 years of HBR are discussed in a weekly interview with a different HBR editor, which focuses on disruptive innovation, scientific management, shareholder value, and emotional intelligence.