Ernest Dale: Biography and Contributions to the Administration

Ernest Dale He was one of the most revolutionary authors of 20th century administration and management. He wrote many books in which he discussed important issues of these two areas, such as the structure of companies, theoretical and practical concepts and how companies should be structured for the correct functioning of all its parts.

He was also a consultant to several transnational companies, to which he helped to improve his organizational structure through the practical application of the concepts he developed in his texts. Although its main focus was large companies, its theory is also applicable for smaller companies.

"The great organizers", one of the most outstanding works of Ernest Dale

His vision can be compared with that of the most important authors in the history of administration. In addition, he was part of the board of directors of important companies such as Renault, Olivetti and Upjohn. His contributions to organizational theory are considered one of the largest in the history of this discipline.

Biography

Ernest Dale was born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 4, 1917. He completed his university studies at Yale University, United States.

His life was marked by interest in the world economy, and the economic fluctuations of the twentieth century were the main catalysts for his contributions to this branch of the social sciences and to the administration and management of companies.

Teacher and writer

After graduating in 1950, he taught business administration at Columbia University, as well as teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.

Among his most outstanding works stand out The great organizers , written in 1960; Y Management: theory and practice , written in 1965. These texts began to be used shortly after their writing as fundamental tools in the courses of Administration and Management in the world university environment.

He was married only once and had only one child; both his wife and he lived in Manhattan. After completing his studies at Yale, he worked as a consultant for Du Pont, I.B.M. and Unilever.

He also served on the boards of Olivetti, Upjohn and Renault. He was the father of the empirical theory of the administration and one of its most famous exponents.

In addition to his contributions in the administration, he had contacts with the illustrious Martin Luther King, with whom he met in Atlanta, in 1968.

He worked on the development of texts and as a consultant until his death on August 16, 1996, after suffering a brain aneurysm in Manhattan.

Contributions to the administration

Ernest Dale affirmed that the policies of administration and the quality of leadership were the foundations for the good individual performance of each worker.

He had an advanced understanding of how companies operated and how they should be structured to get the most out of each employee. Among his most outstanding works are the following:

Book Planning and development of the organizational structure of a company

This text, together with Administration: theory and practice It was one of Dale's most important. In this book Dale praised the application of systematic methods in business models that were used in the mid-twentieth century.

He emphasized that a good business plan should be presided over by meticulously developed plans that should be sent in an organized manner to the employees. This entire book analyzed the development and changes that take place within the organizational structure of a given company.

Dale combined concepts from his systematic thinking with the practical application of these in a company. It integrated the formal structure of a company with its personal aspect, seeking a balance between theory and practice.

While this book is linked to manufacturing companies, it also deals with relevant issues about sales and service companies.

The book does not completely break down the methods of activities of the company, the establishment of policies within the organization, development of procedures and controls necessary for the management of personnel. According to Dale, each of these topics deserves a study of its own.

Book Administration: theory and practice

In this text Dale dealt with the most human part of an organization. He assured that an organization can not be governed purely by the rationality of its methods, because adhering only to the rules completely ignores the basic principles of human nature.

It broke down the administrative unit that makes up a company into smaller administrative parts called units. According to Dale, each unit must act as its own company: it must have a manager who has control over its basic functions and who can manage the personnel, with little or no supervision from the company's owner.

This type of empirical administration with centralized unit controls helps the company's top authorities to realize how well each unit works, in order to decide what changes to make appropriately.

This method of delegation gives additional responsibilities to the managers of each unit, which, at least theoretically, should improve human performance.

Administrative responsibilities

Every manager and administrator within the company, no matter what level of authority they have, must work closely with their staff, even if they have assistants and delegate functions.

Usually the most important authorities of a company are the ones that make the radical decisions, such as the dismissal of personnel and the massive hiring of employees.

According to Dale, this organized system not only helps the highest authorities of a company, but also gives relevance to the administrators of the small sections.

Organizational and human components

The combination of the organizational structure with the human component are the basis for the empirical theories of Ernest Dale, and this was reflected in his most important works on the structure of organizations.

Dale indicates that the key attributes of the structure of an organization are based on the effectiveness of sampling (which helps determine which sections work and which do not) and the ability to self-correct, or the ease that members of a company have to learn of their mistakes and improve their practices.

Dale also considers important how factual the company's actions are; that is, the importance given to the most relevant actions.

References

1. Ernest Dale, Writer on Management, 79. New York Times, 1996. Taken from nytimes.com
2. Ernest Dale Quotes, (n.d.). Taken from wikipedia.org
3. Management: Theory and Practice. Ernest Dale, 1960. Taken from books.google.com
4. Organization, Ernest Dale, 1960. Taken from books.google.com
5. Letter from Ernest Dale to Martin Luther King, Ernest Dale, January 12, 1958. Taken from thekingcenter.org