Lawrence Asa (Larry) Appley (April 22, 1904 – April 4, 1997) was an American management specialist and organizational theorist, known for his early work on management and organization, especially

quality management Quality management ensures that an organization, product or service consistently functions well. It has four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not ...

. In 1962 he was awarded the

Henry Laurence Gantt Medal The Henry Laurence Gantt Medal was established in 1929 by the American Management Association and the Management section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for "distinguished achievement in management and service to the community" in h ...

.Lester Robert Bittel, Muriel Albers Bittel (1978), ''Encyclopedia of professional management .'' p. 456

Biography

Youth and education

Appley was born in 1904 in

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a village located primarily in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, it retains a very small western section in Clarkstown. It is a suburb of New York City lying approximately no ...

, the youngest of three children of the Methodist minister Joseph Earl Appley and Jessie (Moore) Appley. His grandfather from his father's side had been a carpenter and shoemaker. As Methodist minister his father changed pastorates every second year along with the family. They successively lived in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Meyersdale, Pennsylvania Meyersdale is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on the Casselman River, southeast of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the past, Meyersdale's chief industry was the mining of coal ...

, North Tarrytown,

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York (state), New York, after New York City and Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. The popul ...

, Fleischmanns,

Ellenville Ellenville is a village within the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, United States. Its population was 4,135 at the 2010 census. Geography The village of Ellenville is about 90 miles northwest of New York City and 90 miles southwest ...

, and

Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

. After primary school in those places he attended the

Northfield Mount Hermon School Northfield Mount Hermon School, often called NMH, is a co-educational preparatory school in Gill, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association. Present day NMH offers nearly 200 courses, including AP a ...

.Maxine Block, Anna Herthe Rothe, Marjorie Dent Candee, ''Current Biography Yearbook,'' H. W. Wilson Co., 1951. p. i-ii After graduation in 1923, he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University. In those years he held several part-time jobs, such as high school debate coach, short-order cook, washing machine salesman, motorcycle policeman, streetcar conductor, and truck driver. In the year 1924-25 he taught eighth graders at an elementary school for a whole year. Eventually in 1927 he received his BA in English, won a Chi Phi's 1927 Sparks Scholarship Medal, and started some graduate work at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in the summer. By Autumn 1927 Appley was appointed speech instructor and debate coach at Colgate University, where he worked for three years. He spend the summer of 1929 at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs taking graduate classes in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

, and gained his interest in business administration.

Early career in industry

In 1930 he moved to the Buffalo division of the Standard Oil Company, where he was appointed personnel manager. After the merger in 1934 to the

Socony-Vacuum Oil Company ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...

, he was appointed educational director for the firm. After Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, he held a similar executive position at the Vick Chemical Company and at Montgomery Ward & Company for some time.Edwin McDowell. "Lawrence Appley, 92, an Expert on Management," in: ''New York Times.'' April 9, 1997. In 1938 Appley started consulting work besides his regular work at Socony-Vacuum. In that year he joined the

United States Civil Service Commission The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States and was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of t ...

as advisor and lecturer on personnel problems. In 1941 in Washington he became full-time advisor on civilian and personnel training to the

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

, and in 1942 he assisted the

War Manpower Commission The War Manpower Commission was a World War II agency of the United States Government charged with planning to balance the labor needs of agriculture, industry and the armed forces. History The Commission was created by President Franklin D. ...

as director of its placement bureau.

Later career in industry

From 1948 to 1968 he served as president of the

American Management Association The American Management Association (AMA) is an American non-profit educational membership organization for the promotion of management, based in New York City. Besides its headquarters there, it has local head offices throughout the world. It ...

. Appley also served as board member in 35 corporations.Baltimore Sun news, April 10, 1997 in 1953 he was appointed by President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

into the

Commission on Intergovernmental Relations The Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (popularly known as the Kestnbaum Commission) was created by an act of the United States Congress on July 10, 1953, to make recommendations for the solution of problems involving federal and state govern ...

. Apply died at his home, April 4, 1997, in the village of

Hamilton, New York Hamilton is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 6,690 at the 2010 census. The town is named after American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The Town of Hamilton contains a village also named Hamilton, the s ...

Publications

* Lawrence A. Appley, ''Management in Action; The Art of Getting Things Done Through People.'' New York: American Management Association, 3rd ed. 1956. * Lawrence A. Appley. ''Management the Simple Way.'' American Management Association, 1956. * Lawrence A. Appley. ''The Management Evolution.'' American Management Association, 1963. * Lawrence A. Appley. ''Values in management.'' New York : American Management Ass., 1969. * Lawrence A. Appley. ''Formula for success: A core concept of management.'' New York: Amacom, 1974. ;Articles, a selection * Lawrence A. Appley. "Preface" in: Ernest Dale,
Planning and developing the company organization structure
'' No. 20. American Management Association, 1952. * Lawrence A. Appley, "Management and the American Future," ''Management at Mid-Century'', 1954

References

External links

Lawrence Appley and Paul McNutt
photo 1944
Robert T. Sheen, Lawrence Appley, David Secundo
photo 1963 {{DEFAULTSORT:Appley, Lawrence A. 1904 births 1997 deaths American business theorists American business writers American management consultants Henry Laurence Gantt Medal recipients 20th-century American engineers Presidents of the American Management Association People from Nyack, New York