See: Taylor's book The Principles of Scientific Management, 1911(?) Norton published a paperback of this some years ago, don't know if it's still in print. Also: .. Samuel Haber, Efficiency and Uplift, 1964 The opening couple of chapters of this book are an excellent treatment of Taylor's life and engineering ideas. .. Harry Braverman, Labor & Monopoly Capital, is also a good primer on Taylor and Taylorism.