"Though it is possible to develop various principles of administration by generalizing from particular cases, the resulting abstractions seem to have little significance. The process of administration involves action requiring the application of any given principle in infinitely varying actual situations. In brief, administration is an art requiring skill, practice, and judgment. However much it can be analyzed in the abstract, it becomes manifest only in specific concrete situations. In fact, the best administrators may have difficulty in relating their actions to explicit principles; the fully developed skill will most often lead to quasi-intuitive action without a conscious frame of reference or checklist of points to be considered."
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Academics from the United StatesEconomists from the United StatesBusiness theorists from the United StatesHarvard University faculty
Original Language: English
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368-70; As cited in Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 657-8
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dan_Throop_Smith
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Dan Throop Smith
Dan Throop Smith (Nov. 20, 1907 - May 29, 1982) was an American economist, Professor of business administration at and administrator at the Eisenhower and Nixon Administrations, and known as tax policy expert.
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