Journal of Business and Management
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Vol. 17 No. 1 J. B.M. Journal of Business and Management Editors Cristina M. Giannantonio, Ph.D. Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Ph.D. Published by Chapman University’s Argyros School of Business and Economics WDSI Sponsored by the Western Decision Sciences Institute WDSI WESTERN DECISION SCIENCES INSTITUTE The Western Decision Sciences Institute is a regional division of the Decision Sciences Institute. WDSI serves its interdisciplinary academic and business members primarily through the organization of an annual conference and the publication of the Journal of Business and Management. The conference and journal allow academicians and business professionals from all over the world to share information and research with respect to all aspects of education, business, and organizational decisions. PRESIDENT Mahyar Amouzegar California State University, Long Beach PRESIDENT-ELECT Nafisseh Heiat Montana State University-Billings PROGRAM CHAIR/VICE PRESIDENT FOR PROGRAMS/PROCEEDINGS EDITOR John Davies Victoria University of Wellington VICE PRESIDENT FOR PROGRAMS-ELECT Sheldon R. Smith Utah Valley State College VICE PRESIDENT FOR MEMBER SERVICES David Yen Miami University of Ohio SECRETARY/TREASURER Richard L. Jenson Utah State University DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS Abbas Heiat Montana State University - Billings IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT G. Keong Leong University of Nevada, Las Vegas REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Vijay Kannan Utah State University Journal of Business and Management – Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011 Journal of Business and Management Volume 17, Number 1 2011 EDITORS Cristina M. Giannantonio, Chapman University Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Chapman University J. B.M. Journal of Business and Management EDITORS Cristina M. Giannantonio, Chapman University Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Chapman University EDITORIAL BOARD Nancy Borkowski Florida International University Krishna S. Dhir Berry College Sonia M. Goltz Michigan Tech University Miles G. Nicholls RMIT University Richard L. Jenson Utah State University Terri A. Scandura University of Miami Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld Yale University Victor H. Vroom Yale University PAST EDITORS Burhan Yavas, California State University Dominguez Hills 1993-1999 Raymond Hogler, Colorado State University 2000-2004 EDITORIAL STAFF Rosalinda Monroy, Chapman University, Strategic Marketing and Communications Jaclyn Witt, Editorial Assistant Journal of Business and Management – Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011 iii We would like to thank the many ad hoc reviewers who shared their expertise to review the manuscripts submitted to JBM over the past few years. Their time and effort greatly contributed to the Journal of Business and Management. David A. Buchanan Nathan Ostreich Cranfield University San Diego State University Pearl Brewer Feraidoon Raafat University of Nevada, Las Vegas San Diego State University Russell W. Clayton James Rairdon The University of Mississippi National Academy University Drew Dahl Bonnie Roach Utah State University Ohio University Bruce Dehning Valerie Rosenblatt Chapman University University of Hawai’i at Manoa Susanna Fellman Scott Safranski University of Helsinki Saint Louis University Susan Flaherty Yusuf Sidani Towson University American University of Beirut Stephen Hartman Thomas W. Sloan New York Institute of Technology University of Massachusetts, Lowell Andrew Hebdon Yvonne Stedham University of Mississippi University of Nevada, Reno Steve Jaros Richard Sudek Southern University Chapman University Mark Johnson Alexsey Tikhomirov Idaho State University Binghamton University Karen M. Leonard Neharika Vohra Indiana State University, Fort Wayne Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad Matthew McCarter Ying Wang Chapman University Montana State University, Billings Björn Michaelis Hong Zhu University of Heidelberg Loyola University Maryland Journal of Business and Management – Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011 Journal of Business and Management – Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011 v Contents Frederick Winslow Taylor: Reflections on the Relevance of The Principles of Scientific Management 100 Years Later ...........................................7 Cristina M. Giannantonio, Amy E. Hurley-Hanson The Centennial of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management: A Retrospective Commentary .................11 Daniel A. Wren Taylor is Dead, Hurray Taylor! The “human factor” in Scientific Management: Between Ethics, Scientific Psychology and Common Sense ..................................23 Riccardo Giorgio Zuffo The Debate Goes On! A Graphic Portrayal Of The Sinclair-Taylor Editorial Dialogue ...................................................................43 Jeremy C. Short Citing Taylor: Tracing Taylorism’s Technical and Sociotechnical Duality through Latent Semantic Analysis .....................................57 Nicholas Evangelopoulos Taylor’s Unsung Contribution: Making Interchangeable Parts Practical................75 John Paxton Scientific Entrepreneurial Management: Bricolage, Bootstrapping, and the Quest for Efficiencies ................................................................................85 Manjula S. Salimath, Raymond J. Jones III Frederick W. Taylor’s Presence in 21st Century Management Accounting Systems and Work Process Theories ................................................105 Marie G. Kulesza, Pamela Q. Weaver, Sheldon Friedman The Scientific Management of Information Overload ..........................................121 Linda L. Brennan Journal of Business and Management – Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011 Giannantonio and Hurley-Hanson 7 Frederick Winslow Taylor: Reflections on the Relevance of The Principles of Scientific Management 100 Years Later Cristina M. Giannantonio, Ph.D. Chapman University Amy E. Hurley-Hanson, Ph.D. Chapman University This Special Edition of the Journal of Business and Management was organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management. The large response to our call for papers is indicative of the scholarly interest in Taylor, his work, and its relevance to management practitioners. The papers we received were broad in scope. While most were supportive of scientific management, some felt that Taylor should not be honored. The merits of Taylor’s work can certainly be debated, but what cannot be argued is that Taylor changed the way people worked in the 20th century. This Special Issue focuses on the relevance of Taylor’s work to managerial practice in the 21st century. The aim of this Special Issue is to encourage theoretical and empirical research on Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management, and its implications for managerial practice in the 21st century. Frederick W. Taylor, the father of Scientific Management, was an American mechanical engineer, efficiency expert, and management consultant. In 1911 he published his seminal work, The Principles of Scientific Management, in which he laid out the process of scientifically studying work to increase worker and organizational efficiency. The principles underlying his theory contributed to a wide array of management practices during the 20th century including task specialization, assembly line production practices, job analysis, work design, incentive schemes, person-job fit, and production quotas and control. 8 Journal of Business and Management – Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011 The impact of Taylor’s work on the field of management has long been recognized by management scholars. Wren and Hay’s (1977) study saw Taylor at the top of the list among contributors to American management thought and practice. Heames & Breland’s (2010) study found Taylor to be at the top of their list thirty years later. The Principles of Scientific Management, not only tops Bedeian and Wren’s (2001, p. 222) list of the 25 most influential management books of the 20th century, but they refer to it as “The most influential book on management ever published.” The 100th anniversary of the publication of his book offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the relevance of Taylor’s ideas in the 21st century. This Special Issue has eight articles. The first paper, The Centennial of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management: A Retrospective Commentary, is by management scholar and historian Daniel A. Wren. Dr. Wren is the author of The History of Management Thought, now in its 5th edition, and The Evolution of Management Thought, with Arthur Bedian, also in its 6th edition. Wren received the Distinguished Educator Award from the national Academy of Management for his contributions “as the foremost management historian of his generation.” Wren’s paper describes the events leading to the publication of The Principles of Scientific Management, the evolution from task management to scientific management, and the factors that contributed to scientific management becoming an international force. Wren addresses “the intriguing question of why Taylor and his ideas have a continuing grip on management literature and our current thinking” (Wren, 2011, p. 11). The Journal of Business and Management is honored to have this noted management historian offer a retrospective commentary on Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management. Riccardo Giorgio Zuffo explores one aspect of the controversy surrounding Taylor’s ideas in “Taylor is Dead, Hurray Taylor!” Zuffo details the criticisms of theorists who argued that Taylor’s experiments were not positivist science, but instead, merely common sense. He then documents the scientific basis of Taylor’s experiments and how his