This thesis examines, as a case study, the evolution of Thomas Edison's management strategy, from craft-based to industrially directed, at his Menlo Park laboratory facility and the associated Edison Lamp Works. Ultimately, this strategy influenced scientific research and development laboratories well into the twentieth century. During most of the nineteenth century, management of the invention process relied heavily, if not exclusively, on the use of artisan-based traditions. In fact, invention itself was an informally learned craft and coordination of the invention process required great skill, as the inventor simultaneously assumed the roles of scientist, experimenter, entrepreneur, and manager....

This thesis examines the evolution of management strategies as it occurred at Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory facility. This chapter [Chapter 1 : Introduction] presents a context to the change in management strategies inventors employed as a result of the growth and professionalization of the invention craft during the mid to late-nineteenth century. Chapter 2 describes Edison's initial experience with craft-based work and industrialization, and his early growth as an inventor before 1876. The growth of the Menlo Park facility, between 1876 and 1882, including the establishment of the Edison Lamp Works in Menlo Park, which was directly connected to and relied upon the lab facility for its operation, is outlined in Chapter 3. In these years, Edison developed industrial management tactics. Chapter 4 examines the craft traditions employed, primarily prior to late-1878, before the facility expanded. During this early period, the small operation of the facility enabled Edison to oversee the operation through a process of direct management. A small number of employees worked under his constant direction and oversight. To encourange the success of his laboratory and inventions, Edison relied upon craft traditions and artisan shop culture largely composed of worker semi-autonomy, apprenticeship, self-education, loyalty and camaraderie, industriousness, reciprocity, and bonds of mutuality.

Chapter 5 analyzes Edison's selective implmentation of industrial management strategies....

Research for this study relied largely on primary sources. Unfortunately, during this study the main repository of Edison-related records and documents, the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey, was closed. Consequently, research relied primarily upon printed patent interference court records held at the National Archives, published documents in the Thomas A. Edison Papers Mircofilm Edition and The Papers of Thomas A. Edison, diaries, reminscences, local accounts, labor statistics, and newspaper articles. Also consulted were workers' time sheets, letters of correspondence, historic maps and images, and personal documents in the Edison Pioneers biography files and the William Hammer Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Secondary sources were utilized to help focus the research topic and provide valuable insights into the context of nineteenth-century management strategies, invention operations, the social forces guiding innovation, and Thomas Edison's inventive career. Finally, archaeological data gathered from recent excavations at Menlo Park by Monmouth University, provided valuable, previously undocumented information about the infrastructure of secrecy and intellectual property protection at Menlo Park.

[T]his study ... is not intended as a biography or history of techonology....

This study adds to the Edison historiography by examining Edison's entrepreneurial and management skills, and the role of craft and industrially-based management practices in the invention and manufacturing process. The pros and cons of using craft and industrially-based management tactics is not part of the scope of this study. Rather, this study examines the development of, forces behind, and selective implementation of a diversity of management tactics at Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory necessary for the evolution of invention from an artisan craft into an industrially influenced trade.