Failure or precursor? 'Organisation and Methods' and the British practitioner tradition of management knowledge

Abstract

This paper presents the origins and development of a mid-twentieth-century field of British management knowledge known as Organisation and Methods (O&M). O&M was part of the British practitioner tradition wherein the development of management knowledge focused on serving particular contexts but nonetheless developed ideas and approaches to management that are echoed in current management thought. Using archival material left by various actors in the development of O&M, as well as manuals and handbooks used by O&M practitioners, this paper argues that although O&M did not seemingly make a lasting mark on the development of management thought in the UK, its concerns and practices resonate with a number of modern management concerns - process management, organizational memory, accumulation of employees' tacit knowledge as well as caution over the capabilities of new IT systems.