Harold Jack Leavitt (14 January 1922 – 8 December 2007) was an American psychologist of management. Harold Leavitt

Life and career

Leavitt was born on 14 January 1922. A native of

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

, he was the youngest of eleven siblings. Following the conclusion of his baccalaureate studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1943, Leavitt continued graduate study at Brown University in 1944. He then served as a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

reservist for two years, and earned a doctorate from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1949. Republished as Leavitt taught at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute prior to joining the Carnegie Mellon University in 1958. He was a professor at Stanford University between 1966 and 1987, where he was later named Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior. Leavitt's tenure as principal of the Management Analysis Center began in 1971. Additionally, he was an adviser to the

National Training Laboratories Kurt Lewin founded the National Training Laboratories Institute for Applied Behavioral Science, known as the NTL Institute, an American non-profit behavioral psychology center, in 1947. NTL became a major influence in modern corporate training prog ...

. In retirement, Leavitt relocated to Pasadena, California, and died of pulmonary fibrosis in the city's

Huntington Memorial Hospital Huntington may refer to: Places Canada * Huntington, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Huntington, New Zealand a suburb in Hamilton, New Zealand United Kingdom * Huntington, Cheshire, England * Huntington, East Lothian, Scotland * Huntingto ...

on 8 December 2007, aged 85.

Research

Leavitt dealt with the analysis of patterns of interaction and communication in groups, and also interferences in communication. He examined the personality characteristics of leaders. He distinguished three types of managers: # The visionary and charismatic leader is characterized by being original, witty, and uncompromising. He is often eccentric and seeks to break with status quo, and embarking on a new path. Historical examples of such leaders were

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, Gladstone and the Ayatollah Khomeini. # The rational and analyzing leader' are holding to the facts supported by numbers. He is systematic and can effectively control. Examples of this type are Clement Attlee, Robert Peel, or

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

. # The pragmatist – The contractor of established plans, skillfully solving problems. Leaders of this type are typically not visionary. They seek to subjugate the people to their will. Historical examples: Bismarck,

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

Works

* ''Managerial Psychology''. Éditions University of Cahicago Press, Chicago-London, 1975, * ''Corporate Pathfinders''. Homewood, Ill. Dow Jones-Irwin in 1986 * Harold J. Leavitt and

Jean Lipman-Blumen Jean Lipman-Blumen is the Thornton F. Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. She is an expert on leadership, achieving styles, crisis management, ...

: ''Hot Groups : Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization''. Oxford University Press 1999, * ''Top Down, Why Hierarchies are Here to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively'' Harold J. Leavitt, Harvard Business School Press, 2004

Notes

External links

*
Harold Leavitt: An Oral History
, Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program, 2003.

Sources

*Richard Koch: ''The dictionary management and finance. Tools, time, techniques from A to Z'', Publisher Professional School of Business, Kraków 1997. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leavitt, Harold 1922 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American psychologists Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty Harvard University alumni People from Lynn, Massachusetts Scientists from Massachusetts Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty Brown University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni United States Navy reservists University of Chicago faculty Carnegie Mellon University faculty Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis