From The Neck Up
The Recovery and Sustaining of the Human Element in Modern Organizations
By C. Stephen Byrum, Ph.D.

pp 154
Published by Tapestry Press, Ltd.
Published 2006
ISBN: 1-59830-124-1

Product Information

Frederick W. Taylor's work is the clear precursor of Quality Improvement processes from primitive time and motion studies to processes as much a part of the modern organizational climate as GE's Six Sigma. Taylor believed in the developing processes of effectiveness and efficiency that would minimize the variables contingent with what some might call "the human element." -

Robert S. Harnnan's work was nominated for the Noble Prize in 1973. He had brought the science of axiology co the horizon of modern thinking. Axiology is the study of human beings from the point of view of their value systems. In Steve Byrum's interpre-tation of Hartman, the primary manifestation of a person's value system is judgment—the very facet of that "human element" that Taylor wanted to diminish. Hartman created "The Hartman Value Profile," an assessment instrument that can bring concrete measures to judgment.

The overall purpose of this book is not to create a divisive "either/or" in which Taylor and Hartman are presented as polar opposites. Instead, a constructive "both/and" is proposed in which the best potential of Taylor is enhanced by the best potential of Hartman. When work is both productive and meaningful, its highest possibility is achieved for both organizations and the human beings who work within them.

C. Stephen Byrum is the President and CEO of The Byrum Consulting Group, LLC. His primary work is in organizational development and the enhancement of management and executive leadership. He taught on both the university and college level in Tennessee for 25 years, had a personal and family counseling practice for 22 years, and started his work in business and industry in 1978. He is the author of more than 35 books and 100 periodical articles. In 2006, Byrum was elected President of the Robert S. Hartman Institute for Formal and Applied Axiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.