JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION THEORY AND PRACTICE

The Parable of the Pig Iron: Using Taylor’s Story to Teach the

Principles of Scientific Management

Author(s): Paul L. Govekar, Michele A. Govekar

Citation: Paul L. Govekar, Michele A. Govekar, (2012) "The Parable of the Pig Iron: Using Taylor’s Story to Teach the

Principles of Scientific Management," Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, Vol.12, Iss. 2, pp. 73 - 83

Article Type: Research paper

Publisher: North American Business Press

Abstract:

Frederick Winslow Taylor used stories in his writings and during his lectures about Scientific

Management. The most famous of these is the story of “Schmidt” and the handling of pig iron. It is clear

from Wrege and Perroni’s (1974) historical analysis that this story, as told, cannot be true. Perhaps

Taylor was using this as an illustrative story to make a point about Scientific Management. This paper

explores the pig iron story as a parable on Scientific Management and discusses how this story can be

used to teach the principles of Scientific Management.