"In the social sciences there has been a serious gap, except where administration is involved, between the theorist and the man who must act. As a result our social science theory continues to be detached from reality. There is great need for a new social science, namely, the Science of Administration, where social theory and action must meet. Administration as conceived in this paper is, therefore, a social science with its own techniques, its own abstractions clustering around the concept of action through human organizations, and its own problems of theory. It is vitally concerned in integrating other sciences, physical, biological, psychological, and social, at the point where action is involved. Its social importance is great. Indeed if our civilization breaks down, it will be mainly a breakdown of administration, both private and public."
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Academics from the United StatesEconomists from the United StatesBusiness theorists from the United States
Original Language: English
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p. 409; as cited in: Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 662-3
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Brett_Donham
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Wallace Brett Donham
1919 – 1942
Wallace Brett Donham (1877 – November 29, 1954) was an American organizational theorist, Professor of Business Administration and the second dean of the from 1919-1942. The use of case studies in HBS education was greatly expanded during Donham's time as dean.
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"p. 176; cited in: Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 194-5"