Customer Reviews

Daniel Willard and Progressive Management on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (Historical Perspectives on Business Enterprise Series)

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A word of warning as stated by the author in his preface: This is NOT a "choo-choo" book!

David Vrooman fills a BIG VOID to document what was a harbinger of the so-called Japanese style of corporate management, the principles of which were developed by W. Edwards Deming after World War II under the name of Total Quality Management, or "TQM". Rather than trying to upstage Deming, Vrooman presents Daniel Willard's common-sense approach in recognizing the dignity and worth of every employee in the corporate structure which he based on good individual upbringing and having been on virtually every rung of the railroad career ladder himself, culminating in the presidency of the B&O Railroad from 1910 to 1941. Throughout his 31 years as B&O president, Willard raised the status of his company from a large, second-class railroad to one that became a model for others to emulate. He did this through two major programs: 1) the Cooperative Plan, during the teens and twenties, receiving exemplary results based on employee unit meetings where suggestions for improvement of their individual work processes were solicited, and 2) the Corporate Traffic Plan, where employees were rewarded if they were able to get new freight accounts and passenger traffic during the years of the Great Depression. Vrooman also examines Willard's contributions to the country's logistics efforts on the railroads during World War I and his successes in averting major labor shutdowns of the nation's railroads. Also, Vrooman admiringly documents Willard's success in his effort to bring together the nation's railroad presidents and rail labor to save them from bankruptcy during the Great Depression by getting them to agree to an across-the-board 10% wage cut! If you were to ask if this could be done today, I would be forced to give a resounding NO! Willard did this through the TRUST that he was able to garner throughout all levels of the railroad industry, to become one of the most beloved individuals in his field as one of the greatest unsung Captains of Industry that American history SORROWFULLY OVERLOOKS!

This is a MUST READ for all those in corporate venues who want to get ahead, and at the same time, exercise the individual scruples they personally have developed in how they deal with their clients, superiors, and employees.

An excellent book which threatens to lapse into obscurity. Everyone should read "Williard and Progressive Management" for its pertenance to today's business as well as its insight into twentieth century history.