The engineer and management consultant Henry Gantt was an early promoter of scientific management. This meant he believed that industrial processes could only be efficient if they were analyzed scientifically. His most famous contribution is the Gantt bar chart.
From 1887 to 1893, Henry Gantt worked at the Midvale Steel Company in Philadelphia under the world's key advocate of scientific management at the time, Frederick Winslow Taylor. Gantt became an enthusiast for the system as well and worked to solve problems in America's major industries using scientific analysis.
Gantt's most famous contribution to project management and the specific field of scientific management is the Gantt chart. This chart plans work through to completion, and it allows management teams to track progress and effectively deal with problems when they occur. At the time, this was one of the best visual representations of an industrial process.
Gantt is also known for other contributions to the scientific management field.
- Task and bonus system - This is a system that pays employees in a company a standard rate, but it allows them to earn more if the tasks set by management are achieved.
- Perspective of the worker - This expands on the previous idea to also reward workers if the task is completed quicker than the allocated time.
- Social responsibility of business - Gantt believed that businesses have an obligation to community and to society.