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

business theorist Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organiz ...

and Emeritus Professor at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

, especially known for his 1972 book coauthored with Arthur G. Bedeian, entitled "The evolution of management thought."

Biography

Wren was born in Columbia, Missouri, and raised in a village south of Columbia, Missouri in the country on highway 63, where his father owned and run a General store. He received his BSc in Industrial and Personnel Management in 1954 at the

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

, 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 private, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was award ...

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

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, 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 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 The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...

for the year 1973-74, where he initiated their awards for member contributions. In the

Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...

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 Arthur G. Bedeian and Wren (2001), looking back at books on management, and by Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove (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 consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up ...

(1911), ''

The Principles of Scientific Management ''The Principles of Scientific Management''1911 is a monograph published by Frederick Winslow Taylor. This laid out Taylor's 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.'' *

Peter F. Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker (; ; November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business co ...

(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 ...

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

Herbert A. Simon Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American political scientist, with a Ph.D. in political science, whose work also influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary ...

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

James G. March James Gardner March (January 15, 1928 – September 27, 2018) was an American political scientist, sociologist, and economist. A professor at Stanford University in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Graduate School of Educat ...

and

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

Motivation and Personality ''Motivation and Personality'' is a book on psychology by Abraham Maslow, first published in 1954. Maslow's work deals with the subject of the nature of human fulfillment and the significance of personal relationships, implementing a conceptualiz ...

.'' *

Michael E. Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of ...

(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 Arthur G. Bedeian. * 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., Arthur G. Bedeian, 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