- Biography
- Your career
- Direct contact with the administration
- Contributions to the administration
- References
Lawrence A. Appley (1904-1997) was an organizational theorist and management specialist who made a difference with other theorists of the time thanks to his quality management work. While the concept of administration was beginning to be put into practice, Lawrence focused on ensuring that both the administration and the organization of any company were governed by a minimum of quality that offered tangible results.
This new way of 'monitoring' the administration was known as the empirical school, which was nothing more than emphasizing concepts that used in companies in a practical way would give the desired results, or even better than expected.
Image courtesy of horatioalger.org
Biography
Lawrence A. Appley was born in New York and was the youngest of three siblings. His parents were Joseph Earl Appley, a Methodist pastor, and Jessi Moore Appley.
He came from a humble family, as his grandfather was a simple shoemaker. Given the office of religious minister of their father, every two years they had to move when he received a new pastoral assignment in another city.
Although Appley's childhood did not have to be pleasant for a child and could have hampered the quality of his studies, after elementary school, he managed to enter Northfield Mount Herman. This was a very selective preparatory high school with a student acceptance rate of only 32%.
After graduating from NMH, he entered Ohio Wesleyan University, perhaps thanks to the influence of his father, since the leaders of this institution were Methodists. Even so, the university claims to have liberal principles and does not take into account the religion or race of the students who enter it.
During his college years, he had to take jobs to pay for his studies, such as a delivery man, a high school debate coach, a washing machine salesman, or a streetcar driver. His effort and determination to achieve what he wanted was clearly demonstrated by his willingness to do anything to achieve it.
He was married twice and had two daughters, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. She died a natural death in 1997 just two weeks after her 93rd birthday.
Your career
From 1927 to 1930 he worked at Colgate University as a lecturer and debate facilitator. However, in the summer of 1929 he made a decision that would turn his life around; He decided to take postgraduate classes in Public Administration, and it was at that moment that his interest in Business Administration awoke.
Just a year later, he began working as a personnel manager at the Standard Oil Company in Buffalo, an oil manufacturing, transportation and refining company that achieved a monopoly in this sector due to its aggressive prices with which other companies could not compete.
Rockefeller, who became the richest man in the world, was its founder. His influence was sure to have had a great impact on the life of the then young Lawrence A. Appley.
In 1934 this company merged with the Vacuum Oil Company and Appley rose to the position of educational director, which he would later hold at companies such as the Vick Chemical Company and Montgomery Ward & Company.
Direct contact with the administration
From 1938 to 1941 he was an advisor in the administrative organization of the Civil Commission of the United States, a task that required him to travel regularly to Washington to give lectures on personnel problems to those administered who worked for the government.
His good work in this work did not go unnoticed by the great politicians, especially by the Secretary of War, who appointed him his consultant for the training of civilians as soldiers, as well as the personnel he would need. Just a year later he was promoted to the position of director of the War Human Resources Commission.
In 1948 and for 20 years he was the president of the American Management Association, the oldest and largest management and education organization in the world, located in New York. In it, he applied his theories of quality of administration, leaving clear evidence that they worked.
Contributions to the administration
During the decades in which he worked at the American Management Association, Appley made a series of documentaries and writings that record his theories. One of the points that she placed the most emphasis on is helping someone else to perform their tasks.
Appley was convinced that managers spent a lot of time expanding knowledge and developing tasks, as well as monitoring others to fulfill them, but did not know how to motivate and help others to fulfill their role.
Maintaining a good atmosphere in the company, as well as a good relationship with workers, was essential for Appley in order for the company to function as a body. Some phrases in your documents make your vision on the matter clear:
"To inspire a person to work with enthusiasm, you have to make a significant contribution to that person's life."
"If you want someone to do a task for you, you have to create a clear picture in their mind of what you want them to do."
"We have to help people develop to the point of using their full potential, both in character, personality and productivity."
Therefore, his tips for doing a good job as a manager are as follows:
- Being a director is motivating others to do their jobs.
- The director is not important. He needs his subordinates more than they need him.
- The manager charges for what his subordinates do.
His main contributions based on these facts were the following:
1-In the development of the postulates, always seeing the importance of setting objectives, a mission to fulfill them and a vision of these carried out, which will serve for managers to fully comply with their work.
2-He provided with his own work a sample of how optimal results are obtained under a good environment and good direction.
3-The importance of applying the scientific method to administration.
4-Carry out constant diagnoses of the company's situation in order to find and solve problems.
References
- (2019). Retrieved from fcaenlinea.unam.mx/2006/1131/docs/unidad6.pdf
- (2019). Retrieved from brainly.lat/tarea/6653673
- Wikipedia contributors. (2018, November 10). Lawrence A. Appley. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:36, February 19, 2019.
- Appley LA. What Business Thinks and Says: Mangement the Simple Way. J Educ Bus. 2010;
- Appley LA. Business Men Discuss Vocational Guidance. Occup Vocat Guid J. 2012;
- Book Reviews: Formula for Success: A Core Concept of Management. Lawrence A. Appley. New York, Amacom, A Division of American Management Association, 1974. J Bus Commun. 2007;
- New York Times Archives, 1997. Lawrence Appley by Edwin McDowell.