Richard H. Lansburgh
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Richard Hines Lansburgh (September 26, 1893''The Pennsylvania Manual,'' Department of Property and Supplies for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1926. page 50 - 1942) was an American
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, 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 ...
,
management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
, and Professor of Industry at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, known for his work in the field of
industrial management In economics, industrial organization is a field that builds on the theory of the firm by examining the structure of (and, therefore, the boundaries between) firms and markets. Industrial organization adds real-world complications to the perf ...
.


Biography

Lansburgh was born and raised in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, and studied economics at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
. There in 1915 he obtained his Bsc in economics, and in 1916 his MA, and in 1918 his PhD in
Political Economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
with a thesis entitled "Labor turnover." In 1915 Lansburgh had started his life-long academic career at the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...
, only interrupted by
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. From 1917 to 1919 he served in the Ordnance Corps of the United States Army. He started out as First Lieutenant, and got promoted to the rank of Captain and of Major. Back at the Wharton School he was
assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
from 1919 to 1921, and Professor of Industry until his retirement in the late 1930s. Furthermore, Lansburgh served as director of the Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania; as Secretary at the Labor and Industry Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since his appointment by
Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsyl ...
in 1924; as Industrial Officer; at the First National Bank of Detroit, management consultant and management author.


Work

Lansburgh is particularly known for his seminal work in industrial engineering, particularly with the publication of his 1923 book ''Industrial Management''. The text is designed not to make any original contribution, but to create an overview of the field. In the introduction to the 3rd edition he explained the work as: :"... A conscious effort has been made to present what appears to the authors to be a sound philosophy of management, which may be summarized as a balanced relationship between the equities of the consumer, labor, owners of capital, management, and organized society or government. Any deviation from this approach has been a question of interpretation, not intent." The work itself consists of seven parts.


Reception

The author of ''Yardsticks of Management'' (1946) remembered Lansburgh for his outstanding opinion about those matters. Lansburgh in 1930 had argued: :"Is there a definite policy for the maintenance of the skill and good-will of the workers? Fine! But we must be much more definite. I went in a plant two weeks ago and got a new figure for maximum labor turnover. This company had been turning its entire working force over 100 per-cent each month for a period of a year. They had a 1200 per-cent turnover per annum, and some folks were wondering why they had not been more successful. That, or the conditions which caused it, is much more deeply rooted than an attempt to maintain the good-will of the workers. For one thing, that company probably holds the world's record for rate-cutting. I asked the general superintendent if they ever changed rates and got this reply: "Oh, yes, we are changing rates all the time. Whenever a man gets more than we think he should, we cut his rate." He told me that as though it would demonstrate to me how good he was. All these very fundamental things are the things you have to know. Of course, good-will will spring out of these fundamentals, and I assume that was implied. I am just trying to show you the things I feel you have to know in detail if you are going to establish any sort of a balance sheet of management..."Taylor Society (1930), ''Bulletin of the Taylor Society.'' Volume 15-16, page 52; partly cited in ''Yardsticks of Management,'' (1946, page 141)


Selected publications

*Lansburgh, Richard Hines.
Industrial Management
'' John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 1923; 2nd revision ed, 1928
3rd ed.
with William R. Spriegel, 1940. ;Articles, a selection *Lansburgh, Richard H. "Industrial Fact: Finding as a Function of Government." ''Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science'' 13.1 (1928): pages 14–19. *Lansburgh, Richard H. "Recent Migrations of Industries in the United States." ''The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' 142.1 (1929): pages 296–301. *Lansburgh, Richard H. "United States Department of Commerce Standards Yearbook, 1929". Pages vi, 401. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 145.1 (1929): page 211.


References


External links


Richard H. Lansburgh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lansburgh, Richard H. 1893 births 1942 deaths 20th-century American economists American organizational theorists University of Pennsylvania alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania faculty Social scientists from Washington, D.C.