Luther Gulick (social scientist)

2.1. Birth and Upbringing

Luther Halsey Gulick was born on January 17, 1892, in Osaka, Japan. His father was Sidney Lewis Gulick (1860-1945), a Congregationalist missionary, and his mother was Clara May (Fisher) Gulick. His birth in Japan as part of a missionary family provided a distinctive backdrop to his early life.

2.2. Education

Gulick pursued a rigorous academic path that laid the groundwork for his future career. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1914. He then continued his studies at Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1920.

2.3. Family Tree

The Gulick family had a notable lineage of missionaries and public figures. Luther Halsey Gulick shared his name with his grandfather, the missionary Luther Halsey Gulick Sr. (1828-1891). His great-grandfather, Peter Johnson Gulick (1796-1877), was one of the first missionaries to the Kingdom of Hawaii. His uncle, also named Luther Halsey Gulick Jr. (1865-1918), was a physician who was actively involved with the YMCA, contributed to the field of physical education, and was a co-founder of Camp Fire USA. Luther Halsey Gulick himself had two children, Luther Halsey Gulick Jr. and Clarence Gulick.

3.1. Academic Career

From 1931 to 1942, Gulick served as a professor at Columbia University, where he was appointed the Eaton Professor of Municipal Science and Administration. His academic influence extended beyond the classroom through his leadership roles at the Institute of Public Administration. He became president of the Institute in 1921, a position he held until 1962. Following this, he served as its chairman until 1982. He also worked as an executive at the New York Institute of Public Administration from 1942 until his retirement in 1961, indicating a continuous and significant involvement with the institution.

3.2. Public Service and Government Advisory

Gulick made substantial contributions to public administration through various governmental roles. From 1936 to 1938, he served on the three-member Committee on Administrative Management, commonly known as the Brownlow Committee. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to a committee tasked with reorganizing the executive branch of the federal government. Later in his career, from 1954 to 1956, he served as the City Administrator of New York City. His engagement in both theoretical development and practical application made him a pivotal figure in modern governance.

4.1. POSDCORB Theory

Among his many accomplishments, Gulick is perhaps best known for his articulation of the functions of the chief executive through the acronym POSDCORB. This term, which he coined, represents seven key elements essential for organizational management:

• Planning: Outlining what needs to be done and the methods for doing it.
• Organizing: Establishing the formal structure of authority through which work subdivisions are arranged, defined, and coordinated.
• Staffing: The entire personnel function of bringing in and training the staff and maintaining favorable conditions of work.
• Directing: The continuous task of making decisions and embodying them in specific and general orders and instructions, and serving as the leader of the enterprise.
• Coordinating: The all-important duty of interrelating the various parts of the work.
• Reporting: Keeping the executive informed as to what is going on, which thus includes keeping himself and his subordinates informed through records, research, and inspection.
• Budgeting: All that goes with fiscal planning, accounting, and control.

While the specific sequence of these elements may have existed in other forms, Gulick's formulation of POSDCORB reflected the operational approach of organizations he was involved with, such as the Institute of Public Administration and New York's Bureau of Municipal Research.

4.2. Administrative Theory

Gulick contributed significantly to administrative theory, particularly regarding the relationship between politics and administration. In "Papers on the Science of Administration" (1937), co-edited with Lyndall F. Urwick, Gulick asserted that efficiency was the "number one axiom" in the value system of administration. At a time when the politics-administration dichotomy was a prevalent concept, Gulick argued that it was impossible to separate politics and administration. However, the exact nature of his stance on the political-administrative dichotomy versus politics-administration monism remains a subject of academic discussion, as some interpretations suggest his position was not definitively one-sided.

4.3. Economic Policy Influence

Gulick played a crucial role in shaping post-war economic policy, particularly through his advocacy for Keynesian policies. During World War II, he collaborated with economist Alvin Hansen to promote Keynesian principles aimed at achieving full employment in the post-war era. Their efforts were instrumental in persuading John Maynard Keynes himself to contribute to the development of plans for the international economy after the war, which notably included a significant emphasis on free trade. Gulick's engagement underscored the belief in government intervention to foster social stability and welfare.