Cyril J. O'Donnell (1900-1976) was a prolific professor of management at the University of California. Together with Harold Koontz he developed the concepts of business administration and other entities, which they left reflected in the book Principles of Management, which sold more than two million copies and was translated into 15 languages.
He was an operations management consultant for renowned companies such as Hughes Aircraft, a large aerospace and defense company in the United States, as well as for the government of Jamaica..
His great interest in the development of management theory led him to make his contributions to it, becoming a pioneer along with George Terry, Harold Koontz and Ralph Davis. Together they created what became known as APO, Management by Objectives.
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Cyril J. O'Donnell was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, although he grew up in an area of Canada, specifically in Alberta, where he also attended college. In 1924 he received a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Arts in 1926.
Following these college achievements, he returned to the United States and began working as chair of the DePaul University Department of Economics. In 1944 he obtained his doctorate from the University of Chicago.
In 1948 he began working as a business and administration professor for undergraduates, graduates, and executives at the University of Los Angeles, California..
He was also the president of the board of this entity. Although he officially retired at the age of 68, he continued to attend inquiries from various companies and entities until he died a natural death at his home in Bel Air at the age of 76..
Cyril J. O'Donnell's theory had a point of view very similar to that of Harold Koontz, and did nothing more than form part of a set of aspects that related to each other formed what today is known as Business Administration. Each one did their part with these affirmations:
-Koontz and O'Donnell. They defined administration as the direction of the organization that had to be effective to achieve objectives, always based on the ability to direct those who formed it. Therefore, it is defined as the management of a set of interdependent functions.
-G.P Terry. Management pursues objectives through the efforts of others.
-Henry fayol. Managing consists of foreseeing, organizing, coordinating, commanding and controlling.
-Brook adams. Administration is coordinating many different energies, which can give rise to conflicts, as a single body that works to achieve a single goal.
-E.F.L. Brench. Social process that implies the responsibility of efficiently planning the operations to be carried out in a company to achieve a purpose.
O'Donnell strongly agreed with Harold Koontz, which is why they authored one of the most famous books on administration..
While other theorists marked processes of which each had different objectives, O'Donnel claimed that management was directly related to effective leadership. It was important that the leader knew how to organize a human group in order for them to work as a social organism, focused on the same goal..
O'Donnell, along with his colleague Koontz, affirms that the administrative process must be based on five fundamental elements:
This is based on thinking about what objectives you want to achieve in the company and what resources are available for it, both economically and for employees. Once this is recognized, a plan is drawn up to achieve these objectives and the activities that will help to do so are programmed..
To carry out effective planning, these factors are taken into account:
-Purposes. They are defined as the aspirations or ends that a social group pursues semi or permanently.
-Investigation. Determine all the factors that can influence the achievement of the ends, as well as the resources and means that can be used to achieve them.
-goals. Not only must they be well marked, but they must have a specific deadline to comply with them.
-Strategies. Courses of action that will make it possible to achieve the goals set in the most advantageous conditions.
-Policies. The policies will mark the principles that will be put into practice when problems arise in the organization.
-Programs. Sequence of activities and their time marked for each one in order to achieve the goals set.
Think about what resources, positions and bodies are needed to achieve the goals set. Organize the authorities that will supervise the work.
It consists of recognizing the aptitudes and qualities of each worker who will be part of the achievement of the goals set and granting each one the most suitable position for him according to his experience and what he can offer. It will also be necessary to organize the resources in relation to the objectives, knowing when and in what quantity to use them.
The success of a company depends on good administration, and this includes the work that is developed, as well as the channeling of any problem or difficulty that arises.
One of the strongest bases of O'Donnell's theory along with Koontz was that the company should work as a single social organism, and this will depend largely on the direction it has..
The administrator must know how to deal with conflicts and set guidelines and values that all workers follow in order that they work for the same objective, focused on what is really important.
This will be achieved by creating a good work environment in which everyone is equal: workers fighting for the same goals. A good relationship between the manager and his subordinates is also essential to achieve this..
There is no doubt that although there are diverse points of view in the administration, the one that O'Donnell showed has been empirically demonstrated as one of the best; in fact, it continues to be applied in many companies around the world. A master of finance who has left as a legacy a masterful study of what good administration should do and achieve.
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