Mary van Kleeck and the International Industrial Relations Institute: Resolving Conflicts Between Labor and Capital Through the Power of Knowledge

Abstract

The history of the International Industrial Relations Institute [IRI] (1925–1948) provides insights into the way in which a local women’s initiative for improving work conditions for female workers was transformed into an influential international organization for social progress inspired by the idea of scientific management. The Institute articulated a specific form of scientific management which was different from the mainstream: improving work conditions and resolving conflicts between labor and capital primarily through research and discussion. The social scientist Mary van Kleeck served as the IRI’s director from 1928 to 1948. Science, van Kleeck believed, would replace the authority of power by authority of knowledge. She demonstrated with her engagement for the IRI a particular skill in getting others to cooperate; a (short-lived) coalition between enlightened managers and factory owners, reformers, and social scientists from the United States and Europe was built up.