International Industrial Relations Institute

International Industrial Relations Institute was an international organisation that existed from 1925 to 1947.

The first proposal to establish an organisation for the "study and improvement of human conditions in industry" arose in the First International Conference on Industrial Welfare at the Chateau d' Argeronne, Argonne, France in 1922.[1]

The institute was led by Mary van Kleeck, an American social reformer, and Mary Fleddérus, a Dutch activist,[1] and approached scientific management from a particular perspective: what they termed the human factor. From the outset it had close links with women's organisations such as the World Young Women's Christian Association and the Women's Trade Union League.

It was founded by four distinct groups of activists:[1]

  1. State employed women factory inspectors
  2. World Young Women's Christian Association activists involved in industrial reform
  3. women employed by industrial welfare units
  4. enlightened industrialists employing large numbers of women
  1. ^ a b c Oldenziel, Ruth (2000). "Gender and scientific management – Women and the history of the International Institute for Industrial Relations, 1922‐1946". Journal of Management History. 6 (7): 323–342.