Taylorism Transcends: Contested Terrain, Generational Conflict, and the Growing Case for Historical Reflexivity in Management Scholarship.

This article reveals, dissects and explores what we might call the Taylorism phenomenon. F.W.Taylor (1856-1915) and his book The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) have receivedenormous attention from management scholars, historians, journalists and activists over the past century and more. By comparison, the directly related, and much-cited, concept of ‘Taylorism’ has received minimal scholarly scrutiny. Drawing on historical archives, scholarly articles and books, government reports, newspapers, oral history interviews, and documentaries, this study examines the use of Taylorism from late in Taylor’s life to date. In doing so, it reveals seven epistemologically and historically distinct Taylorisms over this substantial period. It chronologically examines the dynamics of how the term has multiplied, grown, and mutated, particularly from the 1960s onwards: for example, through artificially fusing historically disparate terms, particularly Taylorism and ‘scientific management’; in forming a contested site in generational conflict; a growing postwar focus on the development of management as a science; and the role of the U.S. Academy of Management in defining, amplifying and sustaining the importance of Taylor and Taylorism to this day.