History of Management Thought in Context – The case of Elton Mayo in Australia

Abstract

<p> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">George Elton Mayo is generally considered one of the most influential theorists in the history of management thought.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">In order to remedy these shortcomings in the historical appraisal of Mayo, this paper undertakes a reading of Mayo as a scholar embedded in the intellectual and societal contexts of his historical time. Following broadly the contextualist &ldquo;intellectual history&rdquo; approach as advocated by Quentin Skinner (1969; 1978), its purpose is to reposition Mayo in the discursive and conceptual milieu of early twentieth century British Commonwealth political philosophy, taking into consideration the intellectual movements within his local surroundings in Australia.</span></p>