Purpose, Change and Top Management in the Mid-1920s: Revisiting Selected Papers Presented at the Meetings of the Taylor Society

Abstract

Widely referred to as the age of consumerism (and sometimes credited as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties), the 1920s saw a remarkable growth in marketing and particularly in advertising in the United States. Backing the needs and wants of customers with stunning advertising was becoming the priority for many companies. The opening of the first licensed radio station, the introduction of instalment payment plans, the first radio commercial, the adoption of protectionist tariffs, and the Hawthorne studies conducted at Western Electric were only a few of many events that shaped the 1920s American business setting (Mayo and Nohria, 2005: 71 and 78). Factories and small companies were transformed into large business organizations and giant corporations. Professional managers with vision were much in demand; and shared ownership became so popular and diversified that anonymous shareholders began to own companies, which led to new management problems. Nevertheless, issues related to customer needs, employee problems, and shareholder expectations were all on the agenda of chief executives, and most were already aware of the new business dynamics and gave priority to competition and the market.