ERNEST DALE: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ADMINISTRATION - DUDAS - 2025

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

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

"The Great Organizers", one of Ernest Dale's most outstanding works

His vision can be compared with that of the most important authors in the history of the administration. In addition, she was part of the board of directors of important companies such as Renault, Olivetti and Upjohn. Her contributions to organizational theory are considered one of the greatest 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 an interest in the world economy, and the economic fluctuations of the 20th century were the main catalysts for his contributions to this branch of the social sciences and to business administration and management.

Teacher and writer

After graduating in 1950, he devoted himself to teaching business administration at Columbia University, in addition to teaching courses at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

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

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

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

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

Contributions to the administration

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

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

Book

This text, along with Administration: Theory and Practice, was one of Dale's most important. In this book Dale praised the application of systematic methods in business models used in the mid-20th century.

He emphasized that a good business plan should be presided over by carefully developed plans and that they should be sent in an organized way to 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.

Although this book is related to manufacturing companies, it also deals with relevant topics about sales and service companies.

The book does not fully 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 issues merits its own study.

Book

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

He 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 staff, with little or no supervision from the company owner.

This type of empirical management with centralized unit controls helps the highest authorities of the company 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, theoretically at least, 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 in a company are those who make the radical decisions, such as the firing 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 managers of the small sections.

Organizational and human components

The combination of the organizational structure with the human component is the basis for Ernest Dale's empirical theories, 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 to determine which sections work and which do not) and the capacity for self-correction, or the ease that the members of a company have to learn of your mistakes and improve your practices.

Dale also considers how factual the company's actions are important; 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, (nd). 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