Daniel A. (Dan) Wren (born January 8, 1932) is an American

business theorist Organizational theory refers to a series of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also seeks to explain how interrelated units of organiza ...

and Emeritus Professor at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, especially known for his 1972 book coauthored with

Arthur G. Bedeian Arthur G. Bedeian (born December 22, 1946) is an American business theorist and Emeritus Professor of Management at Louisiana State University, known from his book coauthored with Daniel A. Wren, titled "The evolution of management thought." Bio ...

, entitled "The evolution of management thought."

Biography

Wren was born in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

, and raised in a village south of Columbia, Missouri in the country on highway 63, where his father owned and run a

General store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

. He received his BSc in Industrial and Personnel Management in 1954 at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, and then went through the ROTC program of the US Air force and was stationed in Germany. Back at the

he received his MSc in Management. After working for

Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a Privately held company, privately held, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of greeting cards in the United ...

in Kansas City, Missouri., he joined the PhD program at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, where in 1964 he obtained his PhD in business.Daniel A. Wren
Inductee Biographies at ohehs.org, 2014 Wren had started his academic career at the

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

as Assistant Professor in 1963 and made it Associate Professor and eventually Full Professor. In 1972 he wrote his work on "The evolution of management thought". In 1973 he moved to the

, where in 1989 he was appointed David Ross Boyd Professor of Management and between 1994 and 1999 also McCasland Foundation Professor of American Free Enterprise. Since 2000 he has been David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus. In 1973 Wren was also appointed Curator of the Harry W. Bass Business History Collection, from 1975 to 1977 he was Director of the Division of Management, and in 2005/06 he was Interim Dean and Fred E. Brown Chair of the Price College of Business. Wren was president of the Southern Management Association for the year 1973-74, where he initiated their awards for member contributions. In the

Academy of Management An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...

he chaired their Management History Division. He was elected fellow of both professional associations. Wren was awarded the Outstanding Educator of America Awards twice, and received the

's Distinguished Educator of the Year-awarded, in recognition of being "the most outstanding management historian of his generation."

Work

''Most Influential Management Books of the 20th century,'' 2001

At the turn of the century several authors started reflection on 20th century management. Studies were made by

and Wren (2001), looking back at books on management, and by

Stuart Crainer Stuart Crainer (born 1962) is an author, editor, adviser and entrepreneur. He is co-founder of Thinkers50, the global platform for management ideas. His book credits include ''The Financial Times Handbook of Management'', ''The Management Cen ...

and

Des Dearlove Des Dearlove (born 1963) is a British business journalist and management theorist, known for his work on the history and state-of-the-art of management theory. An internationally recognized expert and commentator on management thinking, for o ...

(2002) looking back at the most influential management thinkers of the 20th century. In the 2001 article in ''Organizational Dynamics'' Bedeian and Wren gave a listing of the twenty-five most influential management books. The authors were selected publications based on the impact they had in their time on management thinking, and on the impact they had in the management discipline as a whole. Together with a panel of consultants a first listing was developed, which was further compiled based on a poll of the fellow members of the

. The first ten books in their final listing: *

Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consulting, management consultants. In 190 ...

(1911), ''

The Principles of Scientific Management ''The Principles of Scientific Management'' (1911) is a monograph published by Frederick Winslow Taylor where he laid out his views on principles of scientific management, or industrial era organization and decision theory. Taylor was an American ...

.'' * Chester I. Barnard (1938), ''

The Functions of the Executive ''The Functions of the Executive'' is a book by Chester I. Barnard (1886–1961) that presents a "theory of cooperation and organization" and "a study of the functions and of the methods of operation of executives in formal organizations." It wa ...

.'' * Peter F. Drucker (1954), ''The practice of Management.'' *

Douglas McGregor Douglas Murray McGregor (September 6, 1906 – October 1, 1964) was an American management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and president of Antioch College from 1948 to 1954. He also taught at the Indian Institute of Management Ca ...

(1960), ''The Human Side of Enterprise.'' *

Herbert A. Simon Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organi ...

(1947), '' Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-making Processes in Administrative Organization.'' With a Foreword by Chester I. Barnard * Paul R. Lawrence and

Jay W. Lorsch Jay William Lorsch (born 1932) is an American organizational theorist and the Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at the Harvard Business School, known for his contribution of contingency theory to the field of organizational behavior. Bi ...

(1967), ''Organization and environment: Managing differentiation and integration.'' * James G. March and

(1958), ''Organizations.'' * Abraham H. Maslow (1954), ''

Motivation and Personality ''Motivation and Personality'' is a book on psychology by Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow ( ; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predic ...

.'' * Michael E. Porter (1980), ''Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors.'' * Fritz J. Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson (1939), ''Management and the Worker.'' About their first choice: They further explained that, "Although Taylor remains the favorite bogeyman of the popular press, the fundamental principle of Taylor's philosophy - the rule of knowledge as opposed to tradition and personal opinion - is as valid today as it was in its time."Bedeian & Wren (2001, p. 222)

Selected publications

Wren authored, co-authored and/or edited nine books and over 40 journal articles. A selection: * Wren, Daniel A.. ''The evolution of management thought,'' 1972; 8th edition (2020) coauthored with

. * Daniel A. Wren, Dan Voich. ''Principles of management: process and behavior,'' 1976. Articles, a selection: * Wren, Daniel A. "Interface and interorganizational coordination." ''Academy of Management Journal'' 10.1 (1967): 69-81. * Wren, Daniel A. "Management history: issues and ideas for teaching and research." Journal of Management 13.2 (1987): 339-350. * Wren, Daniel A.,

, and John D. Breeze. "The foundations of Henri Fayol's administrative theory." ''Management Decision'' 40.9 (2001): 906-918. * Bedeian, Arthur G., and Daniel A. Wren. "Most influential management books of the 20th Century." ''Organizational Dynamics'' 29.3 (2002): 221-225.

References

External links

Daniel A. Wren
at ohehs.org.
Transcription of Interview with Dr. Daniel Wren, University of Oklahoma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wren, Daniel A. 1932 births Living people People from Columbia, Missouri American business theorists University of Missouri alumni Gies College of Business alumni University of Oklahoma faculty