Leon P. Alford
Encyclopedia
Leon Pratt Alford was a mechanical engineer, administrator for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
, and management-relations innovator.
In the early years of the 20th century, Alford was a practitioner of systematic management and an advocate of this management style within the ASME. His views came to clash with the scientific management
approach advocated by Frederick Winslow Taylor
. In 1912, Alford published a critique of scientific management that undermined Taylor's claims of success. Alford argued that labor efficiency improvements at the Philadelphia plant of the Link-Belt Company were due to the personality of company's president, James Mapes Dodge. Dodge had won much respect and trust from the workers because of arrangements and incentives he offered so that they would accept Taylor's changes.
Later in 1912, Alford sat on the ASME committee that considered whether or not to publish Taylor's book, The Principles of Scientific Management. Alford's criticisms of Taylor and his management techniques moderated the committee's position on the text. Because the committee's report was ambivalent about the merits of Scientific Management, the ASME declined to publish Taylor's book.
Alford published his own management text, Industrial Management. He advocated a reformist approach to labor and to unionism. In 1920, he co-founded the Management Division within the ASME. Alford advocated flexibility in "industrial relations" and "human engineering" and rejected fixed and rigid approaches to labor management such as scientific management. His approach to labor soon became the dominant accepted practice of corporate liberal management. Because of this approach, the Management Division soon became the largest division within the ASME.
In 1929, Herbert Hoover
appointed a president's commission to investigate the current state of the economy. Alford served on this panel and was the principal co-author of the committee's report, Recent Economic Changes (1929).
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....
, and management-relations innovator.
In the early years of the 20th century, Alford was a practitioner of systematic management and an advocate of this management style within the ASME. His views came to clash with the scientific management
Scientific management
Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management...
approach advocated by Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants...
. In 1912, Alford published a critique of scientific management that undermined Taylor's claims of success. Alford argued that labor efficiency improvements at the Philadelphia plant of the Link-Belt Company were due to the personality of company's president, James Mapes Dodge. Dodge had won much respect and trust from the workers because of arrangements and incentives he offered so that they would accept Taylor's changes.
Later in 1912, Alford sat on the ASME committee that considered whether or not to publish Taylor's book, The Principles of Scientific Management. Alford's criticisms of Taylor and his management techniques moderated the committee's position on the text. Because the committee's report was ambivalent about the merits of Scientific Management, the ASME declined to publish Taylor's book.
Alford published his own management text, Industrial Management. He advocated a reformist approach to labor and to unionism. In 1920, he co-founded the Management Division within the ASME. Alford advocated flexibility in "industrial relations" and "human engineering" and rejected fixed and rigid approaches to labor management such as scientific management. His approach to labor soon became the dominant accepted practice of corporate liberal management. Because of this approach, the Management Division soon became the largest division within the ASME.
In 1929, Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
appointed a president's commission to investigate the current state of the economy. Alford served on this panel and was the principal co-author of the committee's report, Recent Economic Changes (1929).
Sources
- Alford, Leon P. "Scientific Management in Use." American Machinist 36 (April 4, 1912): 550.
- Alford, L. P., and A. H. Church. "Principles of Management." American Machinist 36 (May 30, 1912): 857-862.
- Jaffe, William J. L. P. Alford and the Evolution of Modern Industrial Management. New York: 1957
- Nelson, Daniel. Frederick W. Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1980.
- Noble, David F.David F. NobleDavid Franklin Noble was a critical historian of technology, science and education, best known for his seminal work on the social history of automation. In his final years he taught in the Division of Social Science, and the department of Social and Political Thought. at York University in...
America by Design: Science, Technology, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.