George R. Terry

“George R. Terry, President (1961) - Academy of Management”

“George R. Terry served as a lecturer in finance and management at the College of Business at Ball State University from 1969 to his death in 1979. Terry was awarded the first George A. Ball Distinguished Professor of Business at Ball State University in 1969. Prior to his career at Ball State, Terry was the director of research for Foote, Cone, and Belding Inc., Chicago, and was president of the American Products Company. Additionally, Terry was a lecturer in the Northwestern University School of Business Administration for 25 years.”

“George R. Terry (1909–1979) was the first to call his book Principles of Management... Terry’s elements included planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, and leading human efforts. Later, Terry combined the functions of directing and leading human efforts into an ‘‘actuating’’ function and stopped treating coordinating as a separate function. Terry defined a principle as ‘‘a fundamental statement providing a guide to action,’’ and his principles, like Fayol’s, were lighthouses to knowledge and not laws in a scientific sense.”

“Management is the activity which plans, organizes, and controls the operations of the basic elements of men, materials, machines, methods, money, and markets, providing direction and coordination, and giving leadership to human efforts, so as to achieve the thought objectives of the enterprise.”

“Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising, actuating and controlling; utilising in each both science and art, and followed in order to accomplish pre-determined objectives.”

“In brief, one can view organizing essentially as either an economic, behavioral, adaptive, mathematical, or decisional entity. In the aggregate most of these theories are concerned with structure, behavior, and strategy under conditions of change and complexity brought about by technology, environment, and human behavior.”

“Linking the basic parts are communication, balance or system parts maintained in harmonious relationship with each other and decision making. The system theory include both man-machine and interpersonal relationships. Goals, man, machine, method, and process are woven together into a dynamic unity which reacts...”

“Management is not people, it is an activity like walking, reading, swimming or running. People who perform management can be designated as managers members of management, or executive leaders.”

“Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and resources.”