The Rowntree Business Lectures and the Interwar British Management Movement

关于两次世界大战之间英国工业管理的文献一直是非常关键的，在组织方面，企业是保守的，只有少数进步的企业（Hannah 1983）。同样，其他观察家也强调了传统对英国商业文化的影响（Wilson 1995：Wilson and Thomson 2006）。尽管有这些观点，但我们知道英国管理思想的核心正在不断壮大（Urwick 1956，Child 1969，Bech et al 2010），大量企业聘请管理顾问（Ferguson 2002）。在这种背景下。以吉百利和朗特里为首的贵格会雇主以三项重大创新引领潮流。这些问题是：贵格会雇主会议（吉百利会议）一系列讲座（朗特里讲座），使雇主和雇员能够探讨行业面临的管理挑战。Rowntree领导的管理研究小组运动的建立Rowntree领导的倡议受到了相当有限的关注，主要集中在其结构而不是内容上（Bech et al 2010; Wilson and Thomson 2006）。我们的项目旨在更深入地研究这些创新，从而有助于更清楚地了解英国管理理论和实践在两次世界大战期间的演变。它将在知识转让思想和实践社区的重要性的背景下这样做，如管理研究小组的创建所代表的。此外，它将以数字化材料的形式为其他研究人员创造一个宝贵的资源。

The literature on inter-war British industrial management has been extremely critical, presenting firms as bring conservative in organisational terms, with only a small number of progressive ones (Hannah 1983). Similarly, other observers have emphasized the grip of tradition on British business culture (Wilson 1995: Wilson and Thomson 2006). Despite these views, we know there was a growing core of British Management thought (Urwick 1956, Child 1969, Bech et al 2010) and a large number of firms employing management consultants (Ferguson 2002). In this context. Quaker employers led by Cadbury and Rowntree led the way with three significant innovations. These were: i. Conferences of Quaker employers (Cadbury conferences)ii. A series of lectures (Rowntree lectures) to enable employers and employees to explore the management challenges facing industryiii. The establishment of Management Research Group movement by RowntreeThe initiatives led by Rowntree have received rather limited attention with mainly a focus on their structure rather than content (Bech et al 2010; Wilson and Thomson 2006). Our project aims to examine these innovations in greater depth thereby contributing to a clearer understanding of the evolution of British management theory and practice in the inter-war period. It will do so within the context of ideas of knowledge transfer and the importance of communities of practice as represented by the creation of the Management Research Groups. In addition it will create a valuable resource for other researchers in the form of a digitised version of the material.