Biography

Urwick was born Malvern, England, and obtained a BA in history at New College, Oxford, in 1913. He enlisted in the Worcester Regiment in 1914 and had a "bloody war" in the trenches. While in France he was introduced to Scientific Management when an officer recommended Taylor's book of the same name. On reading the book at The Front, Urwick adopted the philosophy that the application of management ideas were a life-improving event.

On his return for the war he worked for a while in the family glove-making business in Malvern, but he then joined York-based chocolate-makers Rowntree – the most management-conscious organisation in the UK. In 1928 he left Rowntree to become director of the International Management Institute in Geneva. 

Urwick knew more about the top management thinkers than anyone else of his time, and he added his own ideas to their best practices. One of his maxims was "never employ a relative".

At the outbreak of World War II, Urwick was joined by Edward Brech (1909-2006), with whom he increased the scope of his work.

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