A History of Management Thought by Witzel Morgen

Author:Witzel, Morgen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Scientific Management and Marketing

Following the publication of The Principles of Scientific Management there were a number of attempts to apply Taylor’s principles to marketing. One of the first writers to do so was the prolific Herbert Casson, who drew on Taylor as well as Emerson’s efficiency theory in his book Advertisements and Sales. Casson took the view that the principles of scientific analysis of markets were already known to businesses: railways and steamship companies predicted the number of passengers they would carry, magazines and newspapers analysed their circulation figures and so on. Now companies had to become more systematic and efficient in their approach if they were to deal with rising competition; as he puts it, ‘find better ways of doing the same old things’.24 It is worth reiterating this point: rising competition, not rising production, is the factor forcing companies to think more rigorously about sales and marketing.

Casson’s analysis is simplistic, and is more concerned with proving that it is possible to manage marketing and advertising in a scientific way than with laying down principles (although it should be added that he practised what he preached and went on to found a very successful advertising agency). A more sophisticated picture emerged in an article on retailing by C. Bertrand Thompson in System magazine, in which he began by broadening the concept of scientific management:

The fundamental principles of scientific management as practised in industrial establishments are: first, the organization of the present scattered knowledge in regard to the business into a coherent science; and, second, the organization of the human and material factors involved to secure the most efficient application of the science.25

Exactly the same principles can be applied to retailing, said Thompson, and he went on to demonstrate this by developing a classification system for retail costs. He argued for more attention to be paid to the task element in retailing: for example, sales people should be given clearly defined tasks and set targets.

Advertising executive Charles Hoyt made many of the same points in his Scientific Sales Management Today, first published in 1913.26 Hoyt suggested that sales management needs to be guided by the following four ‘scientific’ principles: (1) planning sales activity based on recognized and verified facts; (2) recruiting salesmen according to predetermined principles, so as to be sure to get the highest possible quality; (3) educating and training a sales force so that its members’ skills are of the highest possible level; and (4) ensuring cooperation between all members of the sales force and between front-line staff and head office. Hoyt concentrated particularly on training, believing that only properly skilled staff can achieve success. To say that the methods Hoyt suggests are ‘scientific’ may be stretching a point, although if we accept Thompson’s view that scientific management is essentially management based on the assembly and consideration of all available knowledge, then Hoyt qualifies. Certainly his emphasis on meticulousness and precision fits in with the scientific management ethos.

It should be noted that not everyone accepted that it was possible to manage sales and marketing in a scientific way.

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