Robert Franklin Hoxie (April 29, 1868 – June 22, 1916) was an American economist, known for his work on

labor history Labor history is a sub-discipline of social history which specializes on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other factors besides class ...

and

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor union, labor/trade unions, employer organ ...

Morgen Witzel Morgen Witzel (born 1960) is a Canadian historian, business theorist, consultant, lecturer and author of management books, especially known from his work on "Doing business in China" and on "Managing in virtual organizations".Fineman, Stephen, Yian ...

(2005) ''Encyclopedia of History of American Management.'' p. 262

Personal

Hoxie was born in

Edmeston, New York Edmeston is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town located in Otsego County, New York, Otsego County, New York (state), New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 1,826. The Town of Edmeston is a ...

to Solomon and Lucy Hoxie. He married Lucy Bennett in 1898 and they had no children. Suffering from ill-health most of his life, it is believed that in a mood of deep depression he ended his own life at the age of 48.

Career

He obtained his undergraduate degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1893 and a PhD in economics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1905. After graduation, he lectured at the University of Chicago until his early death in 1916. In the year 1914–1915 he served as special investigator for the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations.

Major Contributions

His book ''Scientific Management and Labo''r (1915) is considered one of the first attempts to examine the relationship between

scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineer ...

and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s. This work examines the claims of scientific management relative to labor and the issues raised by trade unions related to scientific management. Hoxie concluded that there are legitimate claims regarding the role of scientific management in reducing waste and improving business efficiency, but little evidence of it inherently providing greater protection or democracy for workers and thus the continued need for trade unions to counter management power. Hoxie's study has been criticized as having a pro-labor bias and having led to multiple misunderstandings and misconceptions with regard to scientific management practice versus theory. However, Hoxie is recognized as a dedicated empirical researcher that went beyond mere description to clearly state problems, gather data, and apply rigorous analysis to test theory by reference to facts. A posthumous book, ''Trade Unionism in the United States'' (1919) provides an edited collection of his lectures at the University of Chicago.

Selected publications

* Hoxie, Robert Franklin.
The demand and supply concepts
'' The University of Chicago press, 1906. * Hoxie, Robert Franklin.
Scientific management and labor
'' D. Appleton and Company (New York), 1915; 1921. * Hoxie, Robert Franklin. ''Scientific management and social welfare''. Survey Books (New York), 1916. * Hoxie, Robert Franklin and Nathan Fine.
Trade unionism in the United States
'' D. Appleton and Company (New York), 1919; 1921.

References

1868 births 1926 deaths American business theorists Economists from New York (state) People from Edmeston, New York University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty Journal of Political Economy editors {{economist-stub