Dr. Cyril O'Donnell (December 1900 – February 16, 1976) was a professor and teacher of management at the University of California at Los Angeles. He consulted on operations management topics for corporations such as

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace company, aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes ...

, as well as the government of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. He was a co-author of the book ''Principles of Management'' with

Harold Koontz Harold D. (Howdy) Koontz (May 19, 1909 – February 11, 1984) was an American organizational theorist, professor of business management at the University of California, Los Angeles and a consultant for many of America's largest business organizatio ...

which sold more than two million copies worldwide with translations in 15 languages. Cyril O'Donnell was a pioneer along with others such as George Terry, Harold Koontz and Ralph Davis. All of which published management textbooks in the 1950s that defined management as a process consisting of a set of interdependent functions. These and several other management experts became identified with what came to be known as the process school of management.Enotes - Management Functions: Encyclopedia of Management
/ref> Professor O'Donnell was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in December 1900. He grew up in rural Alberta, Canada, and attended the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

, from which he received the Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1924 and the Master of Arts degree in 1926. He returned to the United States and in 1930 was appointed chairman of the Department of Economics at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

. In 1944 Professor O'Donnell received his Ph.D. from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. In 1948, Cyril joined the faculty at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, where he taught business and management to undergraduate, graduate and business executives. He also served as chairman of the board of control for

. He retired in 1968 and continued to consult for various corporations and entities. Cyril J. O'Donnell died at home in Bel Air, California on February 16, 1976, at the age of seventy-six.

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