The Principles of Rational Industrial Management

Abstract

A BOOK which claims to be “the boldest and most vital contribution to management thought in the past decade” must expect to be judged by a high standard. Unfortunately, whatever may be the intrinsic merits of this study, it is decidedly marred by jargon which both obscures the meaning, and occasionally descends to the coining of words. Nor can it be said that the author contributes anything that is very novel to management theory or practice. The limitations of scientific management in the narrower sense have been widely recognized in recent years. The social aspects of management and the social responsibilities which industrial leadership involve are being increasingly recognized, as well as the service basis of industry in its truest sense. Whatever mistakes have been made in the past, and however far industry may need to go in the future to link up its economic and social functions, it is a large claim that rejects entirely the term ‘scientific management’ in the way that is done by Mr. Gillespie, and substitutes for it what he describes as ‘rational management’. His claim is unlikely to be accepted without demur by many concerned with the theory or with the practice of management.

The Principles of Rational Industrial Management

By James J. Gillespie. Pp. xv + 229. (London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1938.) 10s. 6d. net.