Young Blonde Girl In Front Of The Old Factory

In 1834 New England textile factory owners decided to cut the wages of these young women in order to save money. In response, the young factory laborers organized turnouts (strikes) in an attempt to force their employers to raise wages again. These young women viewed themselves as equals to their managers. They saw their wage reductions as attempts to take away their economic independence and force them to become completely dependent upon factory employment for survival—to make them "slaves" to their employers. Because of bad timing and poor organization their 1834 factory turnout was unsuccessful, but it did lay the foundation for successful strikes that helped shape factory life in the future.
Governing the factory
Much of management theory developed in response to the need to control factory processes. Assumptions on the hierarchies of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled laborers and their supervisors and managers still linger on; however an example of a more contemporary approach to handle design applicable to manufacturing facilities can be found in Socio-Technical Systems (STS).