This
paper discusses the
management theory of Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management. The paper contends that two of Taylor's successors, however, perhaps softened his effect on the American workplace during subsequent decades of humanistic theorizing; these two, Mary Parker Follett and Douglas McGregor, have more in common with each other than either has with Taylor. Moreover, the paper claims that, while Taylor's thinking seems to offer more
weaknesses than
strengths in the modern, post-
industrial world, Follett's and McGregor's
theories seem to offer some weaknesses and some strengths. Between them, but perhaps particularly in the
work of McGregor, it seems possible to construct workable theories for a global business environment that is primarily post-industrial.