Percy Shiras Brown (October 15, 1883 – 1973) was an American chemical,

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and consulting management engineer, educator, and business executive, who served as president of the Taylor Society in 1924–1925, and as president of the

Society for Advancement of Management The Society for the Advancement of Management, commonly known as SAM, is the oldest among professional management societies. On November 11, 1910 colleagues of Frederick W. Taylor met at the New York Athletic Club to discuss and promote the princ ...

in 1942–44. Moustafa H. Abdelsamad (ed.) "SAM Diamond anniversary," in: ''SAM Advanced Management Journal,'' Vol 53. Nr. 2 Spring 1988. p. 41

Biography

Youth and early career

Brown was born in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

in 1883, son G. Carleton Brown and Katherine (French) Brown.''Who's who in Finance and Industry,'' Volume 4. 1944. p. 133 Brown was brother to Carlton F. Brown, later General Manager, and to Harold McD. Brown, later Publicity Manager of the

Corona Typewriter Company Smith Corona is an American manufacturer of thermal labels, direct thermal labels, and thermal ribbons used in warehouses for primarily barcode labels. Once a large U.S. typewriter and mechanical calculator manufacturer, it expanded aggressively ...

, in 1917, when Brown would join his two brothers in that firm.Ernest Merton Best. ''Business Equipment Topics.'' Volumes 35-37. 1917. p. 222 Brown attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and studied chemical engineering at the

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

. After his graduation, in 1906, he started as chemist at the

Western Electric Co. The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

in New York.William Henry Van Benschoten. ''Concerning the Van Bunschoten or Van Benschoten family in America.'' 1907. p. 139 Next he was General Superintendent of a prominent manufacturing company. In 1912 he returned to the Western Electric Co. where he was employed in research and efficiency work for five years. In 1917 Brown joined the

in Groton, New York, where he was Works Manager T. S. in 1922 and Vice President in 1924. In the year 1924-25 he also served as president of the Taylor Society as successor Richard A. Feiss, and the next year he was succeeded by

Morris Llewellyn Cooke Morris Llewellyn Cooke (May 11, 1872 – March 5, 1960) was an American engineer, best known for his work on Scientific Management and Rural Electrification. Biography Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as one of eight children of William Harvey Co ...

Further career and other activities

In the year 1926–27 he was sales manager for the Portable Adding Machine Co. In 1927 he was appointed American deputy director at the International Management Institute, in Geneva, Switzerland. In May 1928 he resigned to protest against the manipulations in the institute by its first director, Paul Dévinat. Back in the States in 1929 he became associated with

Edward A. Filene Edward Albert Filene (September 3, 1860 – September 26, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known for building the Filene's department store chain and for his decisive role in pioneering credit unions across the Un ...

in 1929–30, and 1933–37. In between, from 1930 to 1933 in Chicago he was partner at James O. McKinsey & Co., now

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

. In the late 1930s Brown also became board member of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.Sproule, Michael J. (1997) ''Propaganda and Democracy: The American Experience of Media and Mass Persuasion'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. p. 131 Later in the 1940s he served as executive director Filene Goodwill Fund.United States. Congress. ''Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress, Volume 93, Part 11.'' 1947. Also from 1942 to 1944 he served as president of the Society for Advancement of Management as successor of

James Keith Louden James Keith Louden (March 4, 1905 — August 12, 1994) was an American industrial engineer, business executive, and management author. He served as the 4th president of the Society for Advancement of Management in the year 1941-1942, and was the ...

, and was succeeded by

Raymond R. Zimmerman Raymond Rudolph Zimmerman (November 7, 1893 – January 1986) was an American engineer, personnel manager, and civil servant. He is known as 6th president of the Society for Advancement of Management in the year 1944-1946, and as Administrative Ass ...

. And in 1944 he was also secretary and treasurer of the Consumer Distribution Corp.

Personal

Brown married Katherine Terry of

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

on December 12, 1905. They had one daughter, named Priscilla, who would marry Irving W. Burr (1908–1989), author of ''Applied Statistical Methods,'' and recipient of the 1958

Shewhart Medal The Shewhart Medal, named in honour of Walter A. Shewhart, is awarded annually by the American Society for Quality for ''...outstanding technical leadership in the field of modern quality control, especially through the development to its theory, ...

Selected publications

* Filene, Edward Albert, Werner Karl Gabler, and Percy Shiras Brown. ''Next steps forward in retailing.'' Harper & Brothers, 1937; French translation 1939. ;Articles, a selection * Percy S Brown. "Functionalized time - study methods." ''Automotive Engineering,'' Volume 13. 1923. p. 433 * Percy S. Brown, "The Works and Aims of the Taylor Society," ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' (May, 1925
online at JSTOR
* Brown, Percy S., "A Few Facts about Scientific Management in Industry," ''American Journal of Nursing'' 1927, 27: 828–32. * Percy S. Brown, "Organization of the Manufacturing Division," in ''Handbook of Business Administration,'' ed. by William J. A. Donald (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., for the American Management Association, 1931), p. 54 * Brown, Percy S. "Post-War Objectives in Labor Relations." ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' 7.3 (1943): 369–377.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Percy S. 1883 births 1973 deaths American chemical engineers American industrial engineers American business executives Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni People from Elizabeth, New Jersey Engineers from New Jersey 20th-century American chemists 20th-century American engineers