Psychology of management

The USA 
The «Scientific management» School. 
The research undertaken by an American engineer and manager Frederic Winslow Taylor 
(1856 – 1915) gave rise to a social movement which later was named “scientific management”) 
or the school of “scientific managing”. Taylor formulated the principles of evaluation and 
rationalization of labor expenditures, and of production management. By studying work 
operations Taylor found and grounded the ways to improve them. By means of work motions 
analysis and timing them, he developed original catalogues of operations describing the most 
rational procedures of task completing, as well as time norms necessary to carry out individual 
tasks. And for the first time for determining the time norms he used the possibilities provided by 
statistical analysis. In accordance with the idea of social distribution of labor, Taylor fixed the 
planning function for the manager while an employee’s function was that of execution. For 
scientific organization of production, Taylor introduces three principles: 
1. The functional differentiation principle which lies in grouping of tasks when forming 
individual work-places. Employees were given written instructions (pre-scripted tasks) which 
were a detailed description of individual operation tasks and ways to solve them. 

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2. Specialization principle substantiating the idea that every person’s work should be 
limited by carrying out one leading function if possible. 
3. The principle of incentive. It is believed that by his works Taylor layed the 
foundations of the concept of “homo economicus”, “economy man” in which the principle of 
incentive occupies the decisive role. Taylor thought that an employee shouldn’t get more than 
(s)he produced and recommended piece-rate system as a motivation means. 
Taylor’s ideas got subsequent development in the works by American married couple of 
researchers Frank (1868 – 1924) and Lilian (1878 – 1972) Jillbert.
Frank Jillbert was the first in the USA to organize systematic instructors training in 
scientific organization of labor (SOL). He initiated the creation of the first American committee 
“on fighting fatigue”. Jillbert developed the concept of the correct choice of profession. He 
stressed that the most important thing in life is “a person in the right place”. According to him, 
the essence of the SOL is that everyone should do the work for which his/her physical and 
mental traits fit best. In the final analysis, everyone should experience joy from work, which in 
itself is the base of SOL’s success. A special attention was paid by Jillbert to a person’s attitude 
to work. He was an active supporter of involving psychologists when solving production 
problems, including for the provision of needed cooperation between the employers and the 
employees. 
Thus, unlike Taylor, Frank Jillbert displayed a more pronounced orientation on “human 
factor”. In this respect he was obviously influenced by cooperation with his wife Lilian Jillbert 
who was the first American woman to obtain the qualification of Doctor of Psychology. It was 
psychological aspect of SOL that interested her most of all. Lilian continued her husband’s cause 
by actively involving the possibilities of psychological science into the interpretation of the 
obtained results. She wrote the first book in history with the title “Psychology of an Enterprise 
Management”. In her opinion, scientific management supposed employees’ moral development 
as well, which was ensured by cultivation of the feeling of responsibility for themselves and 
others, the feeling of professional proudness, ability to self-control, the feeling of justice. She 
connected the successfulness of management with human psyche when the work itself is a “great 
educator”. A good system of management, as L. Jillbert thought, must not only be orientated on 
professional, mental, and moral development of employees, but also shape their desire for a 
healthy way of life. 

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The ideas expressed by the scientists of “scientific management” school have lead to the 
creation of ideological concept which got the name of “revolution of managers”. According to 
this concept, the new class of hired employees – managers – in an ever greater extent expels the 
old elite – the owners-capitalists, and plays the decisive role in the development of modern 
society.