I'm probably over-claiming. Taylorism was around before OR and I suspect most production/work studies were in Taylorism and time-and-motion not OR. The references to OR in Angus Calders book are PMS Blackett and Solly Zuckerman which are more directly related to war/strategy outcomes than production side and labour efficiency.

I still recommend reading Calder, but I would take what I said with a pinch of salt.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=aCRuuAXx-WkC&pg=PA397&l...