Karsten Uhl: Der Faktor Mensch und das Management: Führungsstile und Machtbeziehungen im industriellen Betrieb des 20. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

Early twentieth-century managers identified the human factor in industry as one of the crucial problems of their time. This article reviews recent research on the development from unsystematic labour management to human resources management. Current studies transcend the wellknown labour process debate, which focussed on management’s intent to control workers. Growing concern is laid on the fact that some early twentieth-century employers already practised strategies, which are characteristic of post-Fordism, e. g. that it would be more important to utilise individuals than control them with discipline. Studies on scientific management, social engineering, and the human relations approach are reviewed. Furthermore, I shall discuss the question which ones of these concepts were in fact adapted on work floor level. However, it has been proved that regimes of workforce government due to the power of foremen and supervisors were partly independent of higher management’s strategies.

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