Frederick W. Taylor

Frederick W. Taylor was born in 1856 in Philadelphia to a wealthy family. He had intended a university education at Harvard, but ill-health forced him to consider an alternative career. In 1874 he became an apprentice machinist, learning of factory conditions at grass-roots level. He qualified as an engineer due to evening study.

His first attempts at reorganising management was at Bethlehem Steel[?], which he was forced to leave in 1901 after antagonisms with other managers. He then wrote a book, Shop Management, which did well.

Taylor believed that contemporary management was amateurish, and should be studied as a discipline; that workers should co-operate (and hence would not need Trade Unions); and that the best results would come from the partnership between a trained and qualified management and a co-operative and innovative workforce. Each side needed the other.