LILLIAN EVELYN GILBRETH
Born: Oakland, California, May 24, 1878
Died: Phoenix, Arizona, January 2, 1972
Mother of Modern Management
Lillian Gilbreth was the mother of modern management. Together with her
husband Frank, she pioneered industrial management techniques still in use
today. She was one of the first "superwomen" to combine a career with her
home life. She was a prolific author, the recipient of many honorary
degrees, and the mother of 12. She is perhaps best remembered for
motherhood. Her children wrote the popular books Cheaper by the Dozen and
Belles on Their Toes about their experiences growing up with such a large
and famous family. But Lillian Moller Gilbreth was not only a mother; she
was an engineer and an industrial psychologist.
Lillian excelled in high school and decided that she wanted to study
literature and music. Her father did not believe in higher education for
women. He felt they needed only enough knowledge to manage a home
gracefully. But Lillian persuaded him to let her attend the University of
California at Berkeley while living at home and maintaining her family
duties. When she obtained her B.A. in literature in 1900, she was the
first woman to speak at a University of California commencement.
She went to Columbia, but illness forced a return to California after her
first year. Undaunted, she went back to Berkeley and received a master's
degree in literature in 1902. She celebrated by planning a vacation. She
spent some time in Boston before embarking, and there she met her future
husband.
Frank Gilbreth, who never went to college, was interested in efficiency in
the workplace. His enthusiasm for the subject was contagious. He proposed
to Lillian Moller three weeks after her return from Europe, and together
they began their study of scientific management principles. Frank started
a consulting business and Lillian worked at his side. They began their
family and in 1910 moved to Rhode Island, where Gilbreth took her
doctorate in psychology at Brown University in 1915--with four young
children in tow at the ceremony.
But where Frank was concerned with the technical aspects of worker
efficiency, Lillian was concerned with the human aspects of time
management. Her ideas were not widely adopted during her lifetime, but
they indicated the direction that modern management would take. She
recognized that workers are motivated by indirect incentives (among which
she included money) and direct incentives, such as job satisfaction. Her
work with Frank helped create job standardization, incentive wage-plans,
and job simplification. Finally, she was among the first to recognize the
effects of fatigue and stress on time management.
Lillian Gilbreth continued her work alone after Frank's death in 1924. In
1926, she became the first woman member of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers. She went to Purdue in 1935 as a professor of
management and the first female professor in the engineering school. In
her consulting business, she worked with GE and other firms to improve the
design of kitchens and household appliances. She even created new
techniques to help disabled women accomplish common household tasks.
She did not retire from professional work until she was in her 80s. She
traveled widely, speaking and writing about management issues. In 1966,
she won the Hoover Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She
died at the age of 92, the recipient of more than a dozen honorary
degrees. Her ability to combine a career and family led to her being
called, by the California Monthly in 1944, "a genius in the art of living."
Born: Oakland, California, May 24, 1878
Died: Phoenix, Arizona, January 2, 1972
Mother of Modern Management
Lillian Gilbreth was the mother of modern management. Together with her
husband Frank, she pioneered industrial management techniques still in use
today. She was one of the first "superwomen" to combine a career with her
home life. She was a prolific author, the recipient of many honorary
degrees, and the mother of 12. She is perhaps best remembered for
motherhood. Her children wrote the popular books Cheaper by the Dozen and
Belles on Their Toes about their experiences growing up with such a large
and famous family. But Lillian Moller Gilbreth was not only a mother; she
was an engineer and an industrial psychologist.
Lillian excelled in high school and decided that she wanted to study
literature and music. Her father did not believe in higher education for
women. He felt they needed only enough knowledge to manage a home
gracefully. But Lillian persuaded him to let her attend the University of
California at Berkeley while living at home and maintaining her family
duties. When she obtained her B.A. in literature in 1900, she was the
first woman to speak at a University of California commencement.
She went to Columbia, but illness forced a return to California after her
first year. Undaunted, she went back to Berkeley and received a master's
degree in literature in 1902. She celebrated by planning a vacation. She
spent some time in Boston before embarking, and there she met her future
husband.
Frank Gilbreth, who never went to college, was interested in efficiency in
the workplace. His enthusiasm for the subject was contagious. He proposed
to Lillian Moller three weeks after her return from Europe, and together
they began their study of scientific management principles. Frank started
a consulting business and Lillian worked at his side. They began their
family and in 1910 moved to Rhode Island, where Gilbreth took her
doctorate in psychology at Brown University in 1915--with four young
children in tow at the ceremony.
But where Frank was concerned with the technical aspects of worker
efficiency, Lillian was concerned with the human aspects of time
management. Her ideas were not widely adopted during her lifetime, but
they indicated the direction that modern management would take. She
recognized that workers are motivated by indirect incentives (among which
she included money) and direct incentives, such as job satisfaction. Her
work with Frank helped create job standardization, incentive wage-plans,
and job simplification. Finally, she was among the first to recognize the
effects of fatigue and stress on time management.
Lillian Gilbreth continued her work alone after Frank's death in 1924. In
1926, she became the first woman member of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers. She went to Purdue in 1935 as a professor of
management and the first female professor in the engineering school. In
her consulting business, she worked with GE and other firms to improve the
design of kitchens and household appliances. She even created new
techniques to help disabled women accomplish common household tasks.
She did not retire from professional work until she was in her 80s. She
traveled widely, speaking and writing about management issues. In 1966,
she won the Hoover Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She
died at the age of 92, the recipient of more than a dozen honorary
degrees. Her ability to combine a career and family led to her being
called, by the California Monthly in 1944, "a genius in the art of living."