How Work Gets Done

Abstract How work is organized—who does what and how they do it—is arguably the heart of modern management. The 1930s notion that engineers knew best gradually gave way to an understanding that workers perform better when they have influence on work-related decisions. Despite evidence to the contrary, the move in the last decade or so has been back in the direction that engineers know best, playing out the optimization themes from Chapter 2. This chapter describes the rolling back of popular and successful practices like lean production and agile management that rested on empowering employees, and returning decisions to engineers.