Until just now I wasn't familiar with the term, "Taylorism," named for Frederick W. Taylor, whose 1911 monograph set the stage for scientific business management. Is he well-known, but not by me, or is the term now obscure?

Is it a U.S. definition?

Here is what the OED says:

"[f. the name of N. W. Taylor, of New Haven, Connecticut (1786-1858): see -ISM.] The theological system of N. W. Taylor, a modified form of Calvinism."

I've never heard of either Taylor, or of a "Taylorism", so I would lean towards obscurity.

Depends on your background, I suppose. I've read F W Taylor, mainly because my wife did a paper on him in college. Though, I've heard Taylorism more often called scientific management.

I'd heard of Taylorism in several contexts. Taylor's time-management work was very influential in industry, and I believe he's considered one of the founders of the discipline of Industrial Engineering. If you've ever seen an old b&w film of someone doing a factory task with a big timer running in the foreground, that's Taylor's work. Lenin was also very enamored of Taylorism, so its influence isn't limited entirely to America.

While I was vaguely aware of a Taylor who was an early proponent of scientific business management, I wan't aware of anyone's forming an eponymous "ism" from his name. The only Taylor with whom I'm very familiar was C.G. Taylor, designer of the Piper Cub and Taylorcraft aircraft, and the early Austers, which were British Taylorcraft. Because I didn't associate The right Taylor with "Taylorism," the term confused me. (As though I wren't confused enough!) Had it been in the context of time and motion studies, perhaps I wouldn't have been cornfoosed.

no doubt my maternal grandfather (Mr Taylor)will get a kick out of this! He should have a discipline named after him...xx

Ah, now I see! There were two different Taylors. From OED:

1. [f. the name of N. W. Taylor, of New Haven, Connecticut (1786-1858): see -ISM.]
   The theological system of N. W. Taylor, a modified form of Calvinism.
2. [f. the name of F. W. Taylor: see TAYLOR 2.]
   The principles or practice of the Taylor system of management.

quote:

Originally posted by hepburn26:
no doubt my maternal grandfather (Mr Taylor)will get a kick out of this! He should have a discipline named after him...xx

Impressive! Do you have any of his original manuscripts, etc, still in the family?

LOL, sorry I was joking! My mother's maiden name is Taylor, that's al I was saying...x

quote:

Originally posted by hepburn26: LOL, sorry I was joking! My mother's maiden name is Taylor, that's al I was saying...x

And a very fine Taylor too, no doubt. Since we have a thread on "Kalleh's mom", perhaps we should start one on "Hepburn's mom"?

By the way, I'm a big fan of Katherine Hepburn, and I wondered if there's any special signicance to your choice of your nom-de-screen?

nom de screen- I like it!

I'm a big fan of Katherine Hepburn too- but also of Audrey, & I'm 26...est voila! x

I've just realised- for two 'big fans' who like and/or are pedantic about words, maybe we should have spelt her name right LOL

KathArine would have been maaaaaaaaaaaaad at us!! She hated that... xx