The scientific management of corporation employees : a study of Commercial Press, Ltd., in 1930s Shanghai

Abstract

This essay studies the introduction of F.W. Taylor's scientific management by Chinese company managers, and its adoption by corporate employees, to demonstrate the controlling process of society in Republican Shanghai. In China, the introduction of scientific management began in earnest around 1930 in response to requests by the International Management Institute for private managers and scholars to cooperate with the government to organize and launch a promotion movement. Most participants of the China Institute of Scientific Management, the organization central in the promotion movement, were concentrated in Shanghai. In January 1931, Wang Yunwu, the general manager of Commercial Press, Ltd., tried to apply Taylor's scientific management method, which aimed to improve labor efficiency, to editing and translation work in his publishing company but failed as a result of employee opposition. After the Second Shanghai Incident in August 1932, however, Wang succeeded in introducing scientific management along the lines of Fayol's principles, which called for a total reform in management. As a result of the new scientific management, the employees were measured, evaluated, and directed in their time on duty and work contents. They accepted the corporation's control, which strengthened their class consciousness as 'white collars' as opposed to manual labors, and also stratified them into senior, middle, and lower class employees.