Frank Bunker Gilbreth

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Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr. 1868-1924

Frank Bunker Gilbreth (born July 7, 1868 in Fairfield , Maine , † June 14, 1924 in Montclair , New Jersey ) is considered to be one of the founders of the corporate philosophy , along with Frederick Winslow Taylor , which its proponents call Scientific Management , or a rather critical one Is referred to as Taylorism .

Career

Frank Bunker Gilbreth (left)
Original Films Of Frank B. Gilbreth (Part I)

Gilbreth only graduated from high school . He began his career as a bricklayer. As Gilbreth watched Masons at work, he noticed that everyone was wasting energy unnecessarily. The search for the optimal working method never let go of him. He worked his way up to become a self-employed contractor and inventor. After his construction company ran into economic difficulties, he founded the management consultancy Gilbreth Inc. and turned to industrial rationalization. In contrast to Taylor, Gilbreth was less interested in increasing work performance than in the optimal work method and work organization . In addition, he moved fatigue-free work, the guidance of workers and the like in the focus of his research. Gilbreth founded the movement studies . To do this, he used the film and a running timer.

According to his theory, all human movements can be traced back to 17 basic movement elements ( Therbligs ). In order to determine the optimal working method, he now eliminated any Therblig that did not help the work progress. He is considered to be the founder of the systems of predetermined times . Incidentally, the reverse of Gilbreth is thermal if TH is viewed as a letter.

His wife, Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth , who holds a doctorate in organizational psychology and who had previously worked intensively with Gilbreth, continued to work together successfully after his death in 1924 and took on the role of breadwinner for the family. However, Ms. Gilbreth initially published under the name of her deceased husband, since her contemporaries did not take a woman seriously in a job that is typical for men.

Private life

Gilbreth married Lillian Moller in 1904. Together with her he had 12 children, including Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.

Frank Gilbreth died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 55 while he was on the phone at the train station. His wife Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth stayed behind with their 11 children (daughter Mary died in 1912).

Gilbreth as a book and film character

Frank Gilbreth became famous not only for his work, but also thanks to the books about their own family written by his two children Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.

Both books deal humorously with his and her work and the family life that it influenced and were also titled as novels in the 1950s ( Cheaper by the Dozen (Cheaper by the Dozen, 1950) and Belles on Their Toes ( Brable by the Dozen , 1952 )) in which he was played by Clifton Webb .

Remakes of the films

In 2003, a remake of the first film took place under the same title Im Dutzend cheaper (Cheaper by the Dozen), which only uses the motif of an extended family with twelve children, but whose name is Baker, and the title of the first book. In 2005, the film received a sequel in similar style, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (Cheaper by the Dozen 2). 2011 to the third part, entitled Cheaper by the Dozen 3 (Cheaper by the Dozen 3) in theaters.

Publications

  • Frank Bunker and Lillian Moller Gilbreth: Applied Movement Studies. Nine lectures from the practice of scientific management . VDI, Berlin 1920, DNB 573463549 .
  • Frank Bunker and Lillian Moller Gilbreth: The Magic of Movement Studies, Photography and Film in the Service of Psychotechnology and Scientific Management , edited by Bernd Stiegler, Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-7705-5356-3 .

literature

  • Florian Hoof: Angel of Efficiency. A media history of management consulting , Konstanz University Press, Paderborn 2015, ISBN 978-3-86253-063-2 (Dissertation University of Bochum 2015, 412 pages with illustrations and graphs, 24 cm).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Bunker Gilbreth (role)
personal data
SURNAME Gilbreth, Frank Bunker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pioneer in scientific management
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Fairfield (Maine)
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1924
Place of death Montclair, New Jersey