General Information

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915), universally known as the “Father of Scientific Management” was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1865 into a well-off family. His father, Franklin Taylor, was a graduate of Princeton University and a lawyer, and his mother, Emily Annette Taylor, was an abolitionist and feminist. The family members were devoted Quakers and the upbringing and values created a well-disciplined young man who was ambitious and planned his future. Taylor was married to Louise M. Spooner of Philadelphia, with whom he had no children since all of his three children were adopted. Taylor was educated early by his mother and also studied in both Germany and France. In 1872 Taylor attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. His plan was to enter Harvard and become a lawyer just like his father. However, Taylor had a different calling and thus became an apprentice at Enterprise Hydraulic Works in Philadelphia where he gained shop-floor experience as a machinist.

Having completed his apprenticeship in 1878, Taylor became a machine-shop laborer at Midvale Steel Works and quickly flew through the ranks because of his extensive understanding and efficient managerial insights and practices. He was a time clerk, journeyman machinist, gang boss over the lathe hands, machine shop foreman, research director, and became the chief engineer soon thereafter. With a deep focus on efficiency, as shop foreman, Taylor studied and analyzed the productivity of both the men and the machines he worked with. This focus on the human element of production gave rise to what is known as “Scientific Management.” In 1883, Taylor earned a degree in mechanical engineering through correspondence from the Stevens Institute of Technology.