Harlow S. Person
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Harlow Stafford Person (February 16, 1875 – November 7, 1955) was an American
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
, Professor of Management and first Dean at the Amos Tuck School of Business, and later secretary and key figure in the
Taylor Society The Taylor Society was an American society for the discussion and promotion of scientific management, named after Frederick Winslow Taylor. Originally named The Society to Promote The Science of Management, the Taylor Society was initiated in 191 ...
.


Biography


Youth, education and early career

Person was born in Republican City, Nebraska in 1875, son of Rollin Harlow Person and Ida (Madden) Person. After attending the public schools in
Howell, Michigan Howell is the largest city and county seat of Livingston County, Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,489. The city is mostly surrounded by Howell Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Howell is part o ...
, he studied economics at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. He obtained his PhB in 1899, his MA in 1900, and his PhD in 1902. His PhD thesis was on scientific management. After his graduating from Michigan in 1902, Person joined the Amos Tuck School of Business faculty at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, where he served until 1917. He became the school's first Professor of Management,Nelson, Daniel. "Scientific management and the transformation of university business education." ''A Mental Revolution: Scientific Management since Taylor,'' Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press 1992 (1992): 77-101. and its first real dean.


Taylor Society

From 1913 to 1918 Person served as 2nd president of the
Taylor Society The Taylor Society was an American society for the discussion and promotion of scientific management, named after Frederick Winslow Taylor. Originally named The Society to Promote The Science of Management, the Taylor Society was initiated in 191 ...
as successor of James Mapes Dodge, who had served from its initiation in 1911. Person was succeeded by John E. Otterson, who served in the year 1918-19. From 1919, Person was secretary of the Taylor Society, which by the end of the 1920s was one of the most progressive business organisations of the period. It promoted cooperation with organized labor. While a long-standing supporter of F.W. Taylor, Person objected to Taylor's antagonistic approach to workers and
labor unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...
.


"Sales engineering" advocacy

In 1922, Person, elaborating on Taylor's own observations on the topic, began lecturing business audiences about the desirability of extending Taylor's managerial principles into what Person called "sales engineering," or what would later come to be called
marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
. In such talks, Person predicted that the normal conditions of the big business economy would spur
corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
s to pursue such a move, by granting competitive advantage to firms that stayed ahead of competitors in developing "sales engineering" techniques.Michael Dawson.
The Consumer Trap: Big Business Marketing in American Life
'' 2003.


Publications

* Person, Harlow S.
Industrial education; a system of training for men entering upon trade and commerce
'' Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1907. *Harlow S. Person (ed.),
Scientific Management in American Industry
'' Harper & Brothers, 1929. * ;Selected articles *Harlow S. Person,
What is the Taylor Society?
" in: ''Bulletin of the Taylor Society,'' December 1922. * * *Harlow S. Person,
Shaping Your Management to Meet Developing Industrial Conditions
" in: ''Bulletin of the Taylor Society,'' December 1922.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Person, Harlow S. 1875 births 1955 deaths University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Tuck School of Business faculty People from Harlan County, Nebraska Economists from Nebraska