An 1891 review explained, that the magazine is devoted to the popular treatment of engineering in all its branches, and is "certainly worthy of support by all who desire to keep pace with industrial development throughout the world.

It was composed of close-copy text, mathematical formulas and statistical charts and tables, alongside drawings and photographs of instruments, machines, and construction sites.

During the entire intervening period, these pages have been the repository of the leading literature of the subject — of the classics in the science of engineering as applied to mechanical production.

[10]The emerging organizational discourse was one on the events of the Progressive Era, the period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s.

According to Tsoukas & Knudsen (2005) in this period the concept of the organization as a system "assumed coherence and autonomy and became an object of independent inquiry.

"[11] One of the first to express this concept, was Charles U. Carpenter how stated Engineering Magazine (1902): In seeking the reason for the lasting and commanding success of American business organizations of today, two facts will stand out prominently.

One is that the organizations are founded upon principles that are in accord with modern progressive ideas and that tend to bring out the latent intelligence, loyalty and strength of all its members.The other is that the important details of factory work are cared for by systems which are homogeneous, flexible and efficient; systems which leave nothing to chance, but which care for the smallest and the most important details of factory work alike.

[12]This was confirmed in those days by the editors of the American Machinist, who noted that "there is not a man, machine, operation or system in the shop that stands entirely alone.

"[18] Tsoukas & Knudsen (2005) added, that "during the first half of the twentieth century, the rhetoric and practice of organizational systems have traveled from engineering circles to additional fields and became widely known in American industry and academia.