Ernest Dale Quotes

17 Sourced Quotes

Centralized control is provided for in a number of different ways:

Ernest Dale
I find myself just a little annoyed at the tendency of all of us to adopt certain clichés about decentralization and then glibly announce that we're for it. I have been somewhat amused at some of my colleagues who are most vocal in expounding the virtues of decentralization and yet quite unconsciously are apt to be busily engaged in developing their own personal control over activities for which they are responsible.

Ernest Dale
Every manager, up to the president of the company, must handle some phases of staffing, even though personnel may provide at least technical help in every case... Again, the personnel department seldom makes the final decision on selection, except in cases where large numbers of people must be hired at one time and the line managers would not have the time to interview them all. More commonly, even in the case of rank-and-file employees, it merely screens the applicants and picks out a few whom it considers the most promising. Then the immediate supervisors make a choice among these few.

Ernest Dale
The functions or job contents necessary to reach objectives must be defined. This step is governed by two precepts.

Ernest Dale
Management policies and the quality of leadership have a lot to do with individual performance.

Ernest Dale
This section will deal with the mechanics of organization—the actual processes or methods of creating and changing the company's organization structure. The problem is essentially that of best utilizing the people and resources presently on hand, as contrasted with the building up of an organization from scratch, described in Part I.

Ernest Dale
The following basic characteristics of organization should be kept in mind in any discussion of organization planning:

Ernest Dale
A list of major management functions and their contents may be helpful in reorganization and in preparation of job descriptions, organization manuals, and charts. The major management functions, analyzed in this Appendix on the basis of a number of manuals, job descriptions, and interviews, are as follows:

Ernest Dale
In this study, the primary aim has been to provide a perspective on organization development which would combine basic truths with practical realities. The answers had to be drawn, in the first place, from the wisdom of the great authorities of the past. These were the pioneers in scientific management and their followers, and the economists who evolved the principles of profit maximization.

Ernest Dale
In and of itself managerial decentralization is neither desirable nor undesirable. We must apply certain criteria in order to evaluate it. One such criterion is economic efficiency: At what point in the management hierarchy and by what individual is a particular decision made most efficiently? Is a particular function exercised or a service performed more cheaply if it is "centralized" or "decentralized"? It is impossible to say in general that either centralization or decentralization is more efficient.

Ernest Dale
The administrative unit that usually covers the company as a whole as well as all Its plants is broken Into smaller administrative units — often on a geographical or product basis. Each is headed by a manager who may be compared to the head of a smaller enterprise. Usually he has fairly complete control over basic line functions; if he also has staff services, such as accounting, engineering, research, and personnel. the unit may be largely self- contained.

Ernest Dale
In some cases the changes may represent just one part of a general improvement program. Such steps as the following, for example, will generally affect the organization structure:

Ernest Dale
Centralized controls are designed to ensure that the chief executive can find out how well the delegated authority and responsibility are being exercised.

Ernest Dale
An organization that is based on pure rationality ignores many facets of human nature.

Ernest Dale
The extent to which personnel handles recruitment varies among companies, but in almost all large ones it will recruit all candidates for rank-and-file jobs, plant, or office, and for some of the lower and middle management jobs as well. As one goes up the line, the line managers are likely to take on more of the recruitment task.

Ernest Dale
Provision is made for utilization of a centralized staff of specialists to aid the decentralized operations.

Ernest Dale
Organization planning is the process of defining and grouping the activities of the enterprise so that they may be most logically assigned and effectively executed. It is concerned with the establishment of relationships among the units so as to further the objectives of the enterprise.

Ernest Dale