The Fifth Column—Reflections on the Past of Scientific Management and the Future of Management Science

It seems only appropriate to begin my tenure as Editor of this journal by reprinting the foregoing article. All of the glittering future predicted by Frederick Taylor for Scientific Management has been equally well predicted for Management Science. Scientific Management now has been consigned by many to the ash-heap of “another ‘Theory X’ ” approach to management. I contend that if Scientific Management had been used as it should have been, that it would have been able to satisfy the most ardent advocate of “Theory Y”. I further wish to make the point that the same thing which spelled the doom of Scientific Management is present within Management Science.