"Development and Human Resources: ILO Technical Assistance Missions on Productivity and Management Development in Latin America during the 1950s to 1970s"

Although many scholars have examined the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) history and its focus on social and labor issues, few have looked into its initiatives to implement management development programs in developing nations (Amdam and Lluch, 2024). This paper examines the distinct and evolving aspects of various ILO technical assistance missions focused on productivity and management development (P&MD) from the 1950s to the early 1970s in Latin America. It will also examine how these efforts connect to similar initiatives by international organizations like ECLA. The initial argument is that P&MD missions represent a flexible and dynamic phenomenon that should be understood within the broader context of Human Resources technical assistance in Latin America. The paper emphasizes the variations and consistencies in the profiles, methods, and focus areas of technical assistants' missions in this region while also exploring the interplay between local actors and contexts and the circulation of Western management knowledge and experts during the Cold War. The analysis relies on documents from the ILO’s institutional repository, where we searched for digitized records related to “Latin America” and “Productivity and Management Development," resulting in over 40 pertinent reports from 1955 to 1976. Additionally, we accessed the UN Economic Commission for Latin America’s (ECLA, now ECLAC) digital repository for reports on productivity, human resources, and development.