Description
Book SynopsisManagement is a powerful mode of thought and code of conduct in the modern world, closely associated with the American way and a natural extension of economic progress. This is a book about the history and development of management and managerial rationality in the United States in the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century.Through careful analysis of contemporary records in the engineering profession, the author shows how management invented itself and carved its own domain in the face of hostility and resistance from both manufacturers and workers. The book demonstrates how the new language and rhetoric of management emerged, and how it confronted and replaced the language of traditional capitalism: ''system'' instead of ''individuals''; ''jobs'' instead of ''natural rights''; ''planning'' instead of ''free initiatives''.Manufacturing Rationality can be read simultaneously as an historical account of the genesis of modern management, a chapter in the history of American capitalism, a critical analysis of industrial engineering, and as a sociology of (managerial) knowledge.
Trade ReviewReview from previous edition This book is original and refreshing. * Robert R. Locke, Business History *
the book tells an absorbing story. * Judith Maas, Bookshelf, Sloan Managment Review, Spring 2000. *
Yehouda Shenhav shows that the American system of management required elaborate social construction. Managers had to justify thier existence vis-a-vis owners and workers, and it took a great deal of effort to 'normalize' their social power. This book makes an imortant critical contribution to our understanding of how the large corporation emerged in the U.S and deserves to be read by anyone interested in the origins of American 'managerialism'. * Neil Fligstein 18/03/1999 *
Yehouda Shenhav rewrites business history in this magisterial account of the role of engineers in the American management revolution. That revolution, Shenhav demonstrates, was spearheaded by engineers, whose rational, calculated precepts of work organization depoliticized the relationship between labor and capital. Modern management's rhetorical claim to neutrality stands on this technical foundation. This elegant and compelling study undercuts conventional efficiency arguments about the rise of modern management. * Frank Dobbin, Princeton University, 1999 *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Prophets of Management: American Engineers between Industrial Growth and Labor Unrest ; 2. Engineering Rationality: 'System Shall Replace Chaos' ; 3. Colonizing the Mind: The Translation of Systematization to the Management of Organizations ; 4. Contested Rationality: Disturbances, Controversies, and Opposition to Management Systems ; 5. Engineers, Labor Politics, and American Exceptionalism before 1900 ; 6. Taming the Shrew: Systems and Labor Politics during the Progressive Period ; 7. Deus ex Machina: Concluding Remarks ; Appendix Description of the Engineering-Management Literature
