Early Life, the First World War, and Glove‐Making
Early Life, the First World War, and Glove‐Making
This chapter first examines Urwick's antecedents as a son of two glove‐making families and his middle‐class upbringing with education at public school and Oxford. After a brief period in the family firm after graduation, he was one of the first into the First World War, a traumatic experience which had a major influence on his attitudes to life and management. Indeed, it was in the trenches that he first read about and committed himself to management as a result of a chance encounter with a fellow officer, who also worked with him on challenging organizational initiatives. He also learnt the skills of a staff officer. Having had ‘a good war’ with a military Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), he rejoined the family firm. However, the two branches of the family fell out and the Urwicks were bought out by the Rigdens, leaving Lyndall unemployed in 1921.
Keywords: military experience, family firm, middle‐class upbringing, organizational skills, introduction to management
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