The School of Business Administration as a separate entity did not come into existence until 1924, but its antecedents in the Department of Economics of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts go back to the beginning of the twentieth century.
The first reference to courses in higher commercial education appears in the University Calendar for 1900-1901:
To meet the wants of students — both undergraduates and graduates — who wish to pursue the study of history, economics, and subjects allied thereto, not simply as a portion of a general academic course, but for purposes of specialization and with reference to the careers they have in view, provision has been made for the extension and the systematic grouping of all the courses of study offered in the departments named above, in such a way as to enable a student to plan his work in an orderly manner for a period of two or of three years. For convenience, and to secure uniformity of administration, a special committee* has been named to supervise the work of students who enter upon the special courses; and, while it is not proposed to prescribe a curriculum of study from which there can be no deviation, it is expected that the advice of the committee will be followed by the student in the arrangement of his work.
According to the statement the aim was to give a scientific training in the structure and organization of modern industry and commerce so as to enable the student to master quickly the technique of any business career. In 1902-3 the name of the department appears as “Political Economy, Industry and Commerce, and Sociology,” and is accompanied by this statement:
The courses in industry and commerce have for their special object the study of organization and processes of modern business. They are closely related to economics, both as a study of wealth production and as an account of the application of economic principles in industrial society. Some of them are technical in character and are intended to rank as semi-professional courses.
By 1902 an imposing list of courses was offered in the Department of Economics. These included: Commercial Geography of the Extractive Industries (Jones), Commercial Geography of the Manufacturing Industries (Jones), Science of Accounting (Springer), Commercial Law (Knowlton, Mechem, Goddard, Sage, Bunker, and Wilgus), Administration of Corporate and Public Industries (Adams, Smalley), and Technique of Foreign Trade (Jones).
In 1904-5, for the first time, Principles of Industry (Jones) was offered, and in 1906-7 Corporations (Smalley) and The Theory and Practice of Manufacturing Costs (Harpham) were given. In 1907-8 appear Auditing (Kime), Practical Banking (Kime), and Business Organization and Management (Kime). In 1908-9 the only new course is called Wholesale and Retail Trade (Jones, Keeney). In 1909-10, for the first time, the following courses were listed: Railway Organization and Operation (Adams, Jones, Haney), Railway Tariffs (Smalley), Railway Statistics and Accounts (Adams, Haney), Principles of Industrial Technique (Hamilton), and Internal Commerce of the United States (Jones). In 1910-11 additional courses appear as follows: Principles of Industry (Jones),
Railway Finance (Smalley), Railway Engineering Problems (Anderson, Cooley, Hamilton, Williams, Davis, Allen), Drawing and Projections (Hamilton), Industrial History of the United States (Jones), and Investment (Jones).
Some of these courses were continued for only a few years. Courses in accounting and finance began to assume greater importance. Business Organization and Management, and the law courses, however, were continued until formal establishment of the School of Business Administration. Courses in marketing, statistics, and personnel had also been introduced.
More than twenty years before the establishment of the School of Business Administration a certificate in commerce was granted for the completion of certain prescribed work. The first reference to this certificate appears in the Calendar for 1904-5:
The course in Commerce is organized as a special course in the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Its aim is to give special training in the organization and processes of modern industry and to assist the student in the selection of such general courses, offered in the department [of Political Economy], as will best supplement this training in preparation for a business life.
The course is administered by a committee of the Faculty … enrollment takes place at the beginning of the third year of residence in the University, and may be continued either for two years, leading to the bachelor’s degree, or for three years, leading to the master’s degree. During the first and second years of University residence it is essential that the student accomplish certain preliminary work, including History, Courses 11 and 12, Political Economy, Courses 2, 3, 29, and 30, and two years of French or German…
The privileges of the Combined Literary and Law Course … are open to candidates for the bachelor’s degree in the course in Commerce having 90 hours credit.
Graduates are entitled to receive, in addition to their diploma, a certificate signed by the President stating the special or professional courses completed in the course in Commerce.
For about twenty years, beginning in 1900, Professor Edward David Jones (Ohio Wesleyan ‘92, Ph.D. Wisconsin ‘95) taught many of the courses in commerce. Durand William Springer (Albion ‘86, A. M. Michigan ‘24) in 1901 began the first instruction in accounting. He became a leader in organizing societies of qualified public accountants and for many years was regarded as the dean of certified public accountants in Michigan. Professor David Friday (‘08), to become famous in later years as a federal research and consulting economist, took over the accounting work in 1911 and succeeded in giving it widespread popularity. For many years the elections in the various accounting courses outnumbered all other courses in the department with the single exception of the introductory course, Principles of Economics. Among the instructors who served under Friday in the work and who became distinguished in the field were Martin J. Shugrue (‘13) and Russell Alger Stevenson (‘13, Ph.D. ‘19, LL.D. ‘41). Henry Rottschaefer (Hope ‘09, J.D. Michigan ‘15, S. J. D. Harvard ‘16) was an instructor for several years and assisted Professor Isaiah Leo Sharfman (Harvard ‘07, LL.B. ibid. ‘10) in the commercial law courses. Fred E. Clark (Albion ‘12, Ph.D. Illinois ‘16) later took over Professor Jones’s courses, Business Organization and Management, and Marketing. After 1919 these courses were given by Professor Clare Elmer Griffin (Albion ‘14, Ph.D. Illinois ‘18).
It is common in universities for undergraduate work in economics to lead eventually to a demand for courses having a direct and practical application to business. To meet this demand courses are added from time to time, and in this way a curriculum grows up which does not take into consideration the program as a whole. Furthermore, the popularity among undergraduates of the more practical courses has had a tendency to draw students away from the study of economics as a social science.
Enrollment in the Department of Economics for courses now given in the School increased greatly in the decade preceding the establishment of the School: 1914-15, 950 students; 1919-20, 1,383 students; 1923-24, 1,440 students. The greatly increased enrollment in commerce in the years immediately following World War I resulted in the organization of a separate School of Business Administration, which put into concrete form a recognition of the growing differentiation in objective between economics and business, to the advantage of both.
Schools devoted primarily to business subjects were already numerous in leading American universities. The Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania, established in 1881, was the first separate college or school devoted primarily to the teaching of business courses. The development was slow in the early years, the University of California alone setting up a separate curriculum of this character before 1900. In 1900 the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance was established at Dartmouth. In 1908 Harvard University established its Graduate School of Business Administration. For admission to this school a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university was required.
In 1922 preliminary plans were made for the establishment of a separate school of business at Michigan. The merits of basing professional study on a liberal education were recognized. The constantly increasing influence of business leaders on economic, social, and political institutions served to emphasize the importance of a cultural background for the business leaders of the future. For these reasons the idea of establishing an undergraduate school of business was never given any serious consideration. The new school was to offer two years of work in business administration following work in liberal arts. The problem was to decide whether two, three, or four years of background in liberal arts were to be required. It was decided to follow the lead of the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth, which required three years of collegiate preparation.
When Edmund Ezra Day (Dartmouth ‘05, Ph.D. Harvard ‘09, LL.D. Vermont ‘31), of Harvard, came to Michigan as Chairman of the Department of Economics in February, 1923, one of the problems with which he was primarily concerned was that of working out plans for the new school. Before joining the Harvard faculty Day had been a member of the teaching staff at Dartmouth and thus had had a first-hand opportunity to study the functioning of the Amos Tuck School there.
The three years of preparatory work at Michigan included, as a minimum, one year in the Principles of Economics and one year in the Principles of Accounting, with six hours recommended in Money and Credit. Students in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts who completed requirements of that College and whose scholarship was of sufficiently high standard were admitted on the combined curriculum in letters and business administration. A student thus was able to earn the degree of bachelor of arts at the end of his first year in business administration and the master of business administration degree at the end of his second year. Students from other accredited colleges with the required economics and accounting were admitted at the end of their third year, but had to forego the possibility of earning a bachelor’s degree. After several years of experimentation on this basis the entrance requirements for all except Michigan combined curriculum students were raised to a straight graduate basis, with the undergraduate work including at least one year in economics.
The School of Business Administration was formally organized in 1924, with its first quarters in Tappan Hall. Day was appointed Dean, and, until his resignation in 1928, he continued to act also as Chairman of the Department of Economics. This ensured a close relationship between the two units, which was particularly desirable during the formative years of the new School. Day was succeeded in 1929 by Clare E. Griffin, Professor of Marketing, who had been Acting Dean in 1927-28 when Day was on leave.
The close relationship between economics as a social science and professional training for business had been emphasized in the selection of the faculty of the School. In many schools of business it has been the custom to recruit some of the faculty members on a part-time basis from the ranks of active business men. Here, however, not only are the members of the faculty on a full-time basis, but with few exceptions they have come to Michigan from other departments of economics. Thus, graduate training in economics has been considered as important for members of the instructional staff as is an intimate practical knowledge of the subjects taught.
The general purpose of the School of Business Administration is to afford fundamental training for the student which will be of value to him throughout his business career, and to shorten, as much as possible, his period of apprenticeship. This general purpose may be resolved into certain more specific aims. The School endeavors to provide instruction of professional grade in the basic principles of management, to afford training in the use of quantitative measurements in the solution of management problems, and to assure education in the relationship between business management and the more general interests of the community, as represented by both public and private agencies.
The first year in the School has been devoted primarily to work in accounting, statistics, and the major phases of management — that is, production, industrial relations, distribution, and finance. Most of the student’s program in this year has been prescribed. The second year has been devoted largely to specialized studies in the separate divisions or phases of business. It is not the aim of the School to teach the detailed techniques of individual trades or industries; such details can be better taught by the trades and industries themselves. The emphasis of instruction is at all times upon such general phases of management as have wide and important applicability.
The use of the scientific method in the solution of management problems has wrought fundamental changes in business administration during recent years. The technique of quantitative measurement in business administration devolves largely around accounting and statistics. These subjects are regarded as fundamental in professional training for business administration. They are given a large place in the instruction of the School, and students are required to become familiar with the application of these methods of quantitative analysis to the several important phases of management.
The relationships of business management to the more general interests of the community can be clearly understood only after broad training in such fields of study as the social sciences. Students coming to the School of Business Administration are expected to have included in their undergraduate programs a substantial amount of work in the social sciences, particularly in economics. In the School further attention is given to the relation of business administration to business ethics, legal practice, government control of industry, and more general public policy.
To acquaint students with typical situations that arise in business relationships, instruction in the School of Business Administration has been based on the use of the problem method. The cases have been drawn from actual experience in a wide variety of fields. Much of the case material was prepared by the Bureau of Business Research. By keeping in touch with changing business methods, the Bureau is able to supply the instructional staff with current business problems and with new ideas in managerial policy.
In 1940 there were eighteen members on the faculty of the School and sixteen on the staff of the Bureau of Business Research. Fifty-seven courses were offered, and the enrollment was 217.
Bureau of Business Research
The Bureau of Business Research, established in 1925 as a department of the School of Business Administration under the directorship of Dean Edmund E. Day, provides a means of co-ordinating and facilitating the research work of the members of the faculty. In the performance of its functions, the Bureau makes possible a continuous contact between the School and numerous business enterprises, thereby enriching the instruction and keeping up to date the materials used in teaching. The cooperation thus established between teaching staff and men actively engaged in business is considered essential to the effective conduct of business education.
As contributions to the literature of business, the Bureau publishes the results of its researches in two forms. Michigan Business Studies, a monograph series under the authorship of staff members, deals with investigations in all the major divisions of business. In Michigan Business Cases appears problem material which has been collected for use in the classwork of this and other institutions.
Bureau of Industrial Relations
The Bureau of Industrial Relations, established in 1935 under the directorship of John W. Riegel (Pennsylvania ‘17, Ph.D. Harvard ‘25), is a center for study and interchange of information on employer-employee relations. Because of the increasing importance of this field and the need for study and advice, it seemed appropriate to set up a special Bureau for it. This was made possible by a gift of funds for the purpose by the Earhart Foundation. The Bureau studies and reports upon constructive endeavors in this field, convenes meetings of business executives and other groups interested in discussion of such developments, and maintains a specialized library. A reference service is maintained which employers and employees, or their representatives, are invited to use, with the result that requests are continually received for information on widely varying topics. The annual conference of the Bureau brings together representatives of business organizations from the entire country. These annual conferences are, in a sense, a continuation and an extension of a series of conferences held by the School before the establishment of the Bureau. Although for administrative purposes it is a part of the School of Business Administration, the Bureau is designed to serve the entire University.
Clare E. Griffin
Robert G. Rodkey
[Robert Gordon Rodkey (‘14, Ph.D.’ 28), Professor of Banking and Investments in the School since 1928.]
Page 1070
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Announcement, School of Business Administration, Univ. Mich., 1925-40.
Calendar, Univ. Mich., 1900-1905, 1912-13.
Catalogue, Univ. Mich., 1914-18.
President’s Report, Univ. Mich., 1883-1909, 1920-40.
Proceedings of the Board of Regents …, 1900-1940.
The University of Michigan, an encyclopedic survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor, Volume II, Part VI, pp. 1065-1070.
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
The University of Michigan School of Business Administration exemplifies much of the best in the sound development of management education. Throughout its history it has stood for rigorous analysis in basic disciplines along with practical applications of theoretical understanding. The School was established in 1924, and Edmund Ezra Day, chairman of the Economics department, became the first Dean of the new school. It was largely patterned after the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, but without the distinctive term “Graduate” in its name. Permission to use the name “Graduate School of Business Administration” on diplomas, official announcements, publications, transcripts, letterheads, news releases, and for other official purposes was not granted by the University until the 1960s.
In the meantime, the School went through three distinct phases. The first was from 1924 to 1944, a period of twenty years when the School only awarded graduate business degrees: the Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) and the Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (actually presented by the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies). Enrollment was small, first reaching 200 in 1939, only to decline sharply during World War II. Following Dean Day’s departure in 1926 to join the Rockefeller Foundation, Clare E. Griffin served as Dean for the remainder of the twenty-year period. In this formative time the School established a graduate degree and curriculum based on a “combined program,” conducted primarily with the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and the College of Engineering.
The Bureau of Business Research and the Bureau of Industrial Relations were also established before 1940. Dean Griffin presided when the Bachelor of Business Administration degree program was set up in 1942, and at a time when the School’s program and faculty were adjusting to the special needs of a country at war. Initial plans were also being made at this time for a building that would eventually house the new School of Business Administration.
During the second phase in the School’s history, Russell A. Stevenson served as Dean. This period extended from 1944 to 1960 and was marked by rapid increases in the enrollment in the Bachelor of Business Administration degree program and the admission of more undergraduate degree candidates than graduate following World War II. During Dean Stevenson’s tenure the postwar enrollment peak for regular degree candidates reached a total of 1,249 in 1949, two-thirds of the enrollment being in the B.B.A. program and one-third in the M.B.A. program. Enrollment decreased sharply following the postwar peak with the undergraduate enrollment remaining larger than the graduate. Dean Stevenson led in gaining the necessary business and political support to assure legislative approval for the School’s new building. He added to the faculty to meet the peak postwar demands and encouraged the faculty and bureaus to extend their activities to serve the needs of the state. This encouragement resulted in the first off-campus credit program, as well as in regular executive development programs and numerous special conferences and workshops.
In the third phase, beginning in 1960 and continuing into the seventies, the emphasis shifted back to the graduate level. The declining trend in graduate enrollment was sharply reversed; the M.B.A. clearly became the dominant degree, and graduate enrollment doubled between 1960 and 1971. Floyd A. Bond was Dean during this period. In this phase the off-campus programs were rationalized and made essentially extensions of the day program, having the same standards and admission requirements. This provided an evening M.B.A. program for well-qualified older students holding full-time employment. These enrollment shifts, along with changes in the application of behavioral science and quantitative methods to business, resulted in major revisions of the curriculum.
During this third period the School also developed a more vigorous Ph.D. program with a larger enrollment of highly-qualified candidates, a greatly expanded postgraduate continuing-management-education program with improved facilities and year-round operation, a distinguished Visiting Committee of Chief Executive Officers of leading corporations, more research and publication, better classroom and research facilities privately financed through School fund-raising efforts, greatly expanded scholarship and loan funds for students, improved business contacts through the extension of the School’s national and international activity and influence, and more discretionary funding to provide that extra “margin of excellence.”
Enrollment Growth. — Enrollment in the School of Business Administration was relatively small before World War II; the peak enrollment of 240 students was reached in 1939. For the next few years enrollment declined, reflecting the beginning pressures of World War II, and in 1943 only 6 students were registered for the master’s program and 62 for the bachelor’s program. There were also 130 special students, many of them under government contract from the Navy Supply Corps.
The return of World War II veterans to the campus brought enrollment to a new peak of 1,249 in 1949. In the next three years, it dropped more than 400, reaching 832 in 1952, but rebounded to 1,100 in 1954 with the return of the Korean War veterans. Following this increase, enrollment in both the B.B.A. and M.B.A. programs again dropped. Throughout the period after World War II and the Korean War, the B.B.A. program had the greater number of students.
When Dean Bond was appointed in 1960, campus enrollment was at its lowest point in fourteen years. Total enrollment was 924, including off-campus students numbering over 200. Registrations for the B.B.A. program continued to drop during the sixties, but the M.B.A. enrollment in both campus and off-campus programs increased significantly. By 1971 over 75 percent of the enrollment represented graduate students, including 958 master’s candidates (589 on campus and 369 off campus), and 75 in the Ph.D. program. Students in the B.B.A. program, numbering 269, brought total enrollment to 1,302.
The temporary increases during the fifties appear to result from several circumstances: fluctuations in the numbers of returning servicemen, a special program given during the school years 1954-55 and 1955-56 for the Internal Revenue Service, and the initiation of off-campus M.B.A. work. Considering the effect of these special situations on enrollments, it was evident that maintaining satisfactory B.B.A. and M.B.A. enrollments in the basic daytime programs was a major problem during most of the period.
Off-Campus and Evening Offerings. — In May 1938 the faculty voted to offer selected business administration courses in the Detroit Study Center as part of the Extension Service. Although a standard schedule of courses was planned to allow progress toward the M.B.A. degree, the faculty ruled that 24 of the last 30 hours to be applied toward graduation had to be taken in Ann Arbor. Admissions to the evening classes were handled by the Extension Service.
In the fall of 1960 the faculty removed the residence requirement for those taking evening classes and allowed all work at the Detroit Study Center to count toward graduation.
By 1960, in addition to the Detroit program, classes were also being offered in Grand Rapids and in Midland. After the development of the Dearborn Campus, work was concentrated in that area. In 1963 central administration requested that the School extend the M.B.A. program to Flint.
By 1967 nearly all evening students were formally enrolled in the M.B.A. degree program. The same admissions standards were being applied to day and evening applications, and students were free to move from one program to another. Instruction was offered in Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint, as well as on the University’s educational TV system. The TV courses were channeled to three other locations where cooperating business firms furnished space in their own buildings. All instruction was given by regular full-time University of Michigan faculty.
Enrollment in the M.B.A. Evening Program continued to increase, serving the needs of a highly-qualified student body in southeastern Michigan. By 1971 students in the program numbered approximately 370. Fifty-three evening courses were offered during 1970-71.
Minority Enrollment. — Since the early sixties, the faculty of the School of Business Administration has paid increasing attention to the problems of interesting more minority students in business training. The first concerted step in this direction was taken in 1965, when the campus visitation program began to include colleges with predominantly Black student bodies.
In April 1966 Dean Bond appointed a special Ad Hoc Committee on Educational Programs in Business Administration for Negroes. This committee actively explored a number of proposals for interesting more members of minority groups, particularly Blacks, in preparing for business careers and in coming to the University of Michigan for their work.
In cooperation with other groups at the University, the School of Business Administration developed close contact with Tuskegee Institute. One result of this association was the faculty’s approval of a special noncredit seminar to be staffed by our faculty and offered at Tuskegee Institute during the winter term of 1966-67.
Nine faculty members participated in the first seminar series. They traveled to Tuskegee over the weekend, without special compensation, where they lectured and held conferences with students in an effort to interest them in business careers. The seminar series was expanded during the second year and carried credit from Tuskegee Institute to students who participated. During the third year a senior professor from the School of Business Administration at Michigan was assigned to teach full-time in the Tuskegee program and to help recruit Black students for business careers. Regrettably, the program was terminated after officials of Tuskegee Institute had advised the School that student unrest at their institution made it too dangerous for their officials to assume responsibility for the safety of visiting faculty.
Paralleling the effort at Tuskegee, steps were taken toward building a continuing relationship with Howard, Fisk, and Atlanta Universities. Beginning in 1966, members of our faculty and staff made regular visits to these schools, often accompanied by currently enrolled Black students or a Black graduate of the School. Later a Black counselor was added to the School staff, and campus visits were extended to 27 schools selected primarily for their large Black enrollments. The School’s Black Business Students Association has been particularly cooperative in recruiting prospective Black Students.
The problem of minority enrollment was not the most immediate concern of student activists during the late 1960s, but this issue was foremost in specific actions against the School in the spring of 1970. During the preceding years the School of Business Administration had been the target of several forays by “midnight raiders,” who broke windows from the apparent idea that the School represented the “establishment.” In the spring of 1970 student action at Michigan coalesced around minority enrollment, and a student strike was sponsored by the Black Action Movement (BAM).
The School was able to continue classes as usual, except for the presence of pickets, until the week of March 23. Early in that week BAM supporters, almost none of them business students, organized student rallies. Through the week these built up to mass demonstrations in the halls. Bulletin boards were destroyed, classes disrupted, fires set in wastepaper baskets, and fire alarms triggered. An “ammonia raid” severely limited the use of the building for academic purposes.
On March 26, a large examination was scheduled for late afternoon, and word had reached our students that a major disruption was planned. By this time the students in the School felt they had taken enough without retaliating. There was a rapidly rising determination to deal physically with the disrupters if they returned. Since most schools on campus had already closed, the Student Council asked the Dean and the Executive Committee to close the School of Business Administration immediately to avoid any direct conflict between the students. On Monday morning, March 30, 1970, adequate police protection was provided. Picketing was restricted to areas outside the building. The School opened and classes were held with normal attendance.
The School’s cooperation was evident in the 1970-71 school year: all requests from minority students for financial aid were granted, although the requests of many other needy students were denied. In that year the average grant to minority students in the School of Business Administration was $3,175, while the average amount to other students receiving financial aid was $1,084.
A special approach was also developed to increase the enrollment of women students in the School. The campus visitation program was extended to include more women’s colleges, and special brochures and recruiting efforts were made from the mid-sixties onward to attract women students. Special scholarship funds were also made available. These efforts to recruit women were more successful than the efforts to attract Blacks. By 1970 the women enrolled in the School represented more than 6 percent of the total, and the proportion showed signs of increasing rapidly.
Research, Publications, and Continuing Education. — Two bureaus oriented toward research, service, and continuing education were established in the School before 1940. The Bureau of Business Research assumed responsibility for coordinating the School’s research, and the Bureau of Industrial Relations, through its workshops and seminars, became the major arm of a coordinated continuing education program.
Bureau of Business Research. — Prior to World War II the Bureau’s role was largely confined to supporting and publishing faculty research. The support consisted primarily of assigning research assistants to work under faculty members with approved projects. An extension of this role was the special project to study department stores’ operating results and practices, started in 1939 as a cooperative effort among the principal department stores in Michigan, excluding the large metropolitan areas. Stores outside the state were later added as a special group.
Following World War II more opportunities arose for sponsored research, and its administration was generally considered a responsibility of the Bureau of Business Research with faculty members assigned as project directors or principal investigators. Among the early sponsors of research were the Ford Motor Company and various governmental agencies. Studies included pilot marketing-research projects preliminary to national studies by Ford Motor Company and such comprehensive studies for governmental agencies as evaluating governmental procedures and policies for the purchase of tanks and automobiles. Business groups also sponsored major research projects in investment banking, the automotive parts market, and education for business leadership.
Individual companies provided funding for other important studies. Some were related to local business problems, but others dealt with important national developments such as the application of the Robinson-Patman Act.
During most of its existence, the Bureau of Business Research attempted to include in its current projects at least one that was of major concern to the state of Michigan. Studies ranged from detailed analytical studies of the state budget to explorations into the special problems associated with industrial development and expansion. Special workshops and conferences on industrial development were also held for state agencies, city officials, and commercial and civic groups in cooperation with the State Office of Economic Development. When the Industrial Development Division of the Institute of Science and Technology was set up in 1960, the Bureau of Business Research worked cooperatively with that agency.
Bureau of Industrial Relations. — The program of the Bureau of Industrial Relations continued to show steady growth during the forties and fifties. The primary areas of activity included an expanding continuing-education program and the establishment of a Faculty Research Fellowship in Personnel Administration supported by corporate contributions. This program helped support research in such fields as executive development, collective bargaining, arbitration, and special aspects of personnel administration. The conference program of the Bureau came to assume a major share in the Bureau’s activities. In 1955-56 the Bureau sponsored 28 conferences in five different Michigan cities. The scope of this program increased under the direction of John W. Riegel, who retired as Director of the Bureau in 1959.
Under George Odiorne, appointed director in 1959, the conference and seminar work of the Bureau was further expanded, and to those programs were added the Center for Programmed Learning and several quarterly publications. In the late sixties a more integrated program was devised, and many firms began to look to the Bureau of Industrial Relations as their chief source of management training. By 1970 the Bureau was conducting seminars in cooperation with the School of Business Administration faculty and outside guest lecturers on 50 different topics. It offered about five workshops or seminars a week, amounting to more than 270 during the calendar year.
Bureau of Hospital Administration. — The Bureau of Hospital Administration was established in 1957 as the research arm of the Program in Hospital Administration. The Bureau showed rapid growth, and its faculty and staff soon made important contributions in medical economics and regional hospital planning. Within the first three years of its existence, it achieved sponsored research funding in excess of $500,000 annually, and its research remained at about this level throughout the remainder of its existence as part of the School of Business Administration.
Institute for International Commerce. — Established in 1966, the object of the program was threefold: to give more business students at the School an understanding and interest in foreign trade; to conduct workshops and seminars aimed at helping Michigan business men compete in international markets; and to conduct and sponsor research into the special problems and opportunities Michigan businessmen would encounter in seeking to increase their exports. The Institute also developed a special reference collection on foreign trade as a resource for businessmen.
The initial efforts of the institute were aimed at identifying the Michigan export community, its size, growth, and potential. As part of this effort, the first Directory of Michigan Exporters was published, and findings from special research on opportunities for Michigan businessmen were made available through workshops and conferences.
Publications. — For many years both the Bureau of Business Research and the Bureau of Industrial Relations were active publishers of periodicals as well as books and monographs. The Bureau of Business Research established the publication pattern for the School when it began issuing studies in a number of special series. Basic studies in the field were initially published under the title Michigan Business Studies. The title Michigan Business Reports was reserved for more specialized research reports. Another series, comprising speeches by faculty and business leaders at various conferences, was headed Michigan Business Papers. Cases for classroom instruction were also issued in a special series. As the international work expanded, new study series were added to cover work in international business, international labor, and international commerce. Through its publication program, the Bureau of Industrial Relations issued major works under separate titles, but it also published a series of monographs on industrial relations and other appropriate topics. In 1948 J. Philip Wernette joined the staff as Director of the Bureau of Business Research, and the Michigan Business Review was launched with Professor Wernette as editor. The first number was dated May 1949. The first few issues were identified with the Bureau of Business Research, but later the Michigan Business Review was sponsored directly by the School as a special activity. Professor Wernette remained its editor for twenty-five years. The journal was distributed gratis to management personnel and libraries; its circulation increased to approximately 7,500 by 1960. The Michigan Business Review was listed in the Business Periodicals Index and its circulation reached approximately 30,000 by 1971.
Other academic periodicals were also sponsored by the School through the Bureau of Industrial Relations. The Management of Personnel, a quarterly publication, was established in 1961 with an initial circulation of 2,100; by 1971 it had grown to 6,500. Personnel Management Abstracts, which came under the sponsorship of the School in 1954, had a circulation of 900 in 1961 and 7,000 in 1971. The Bureau of Industrial Relations also assumed responsibility for publishing and distributing the Industrial Relations Law Digest in 1967. By 1971 its circulation was 1,800.
Continuing Management Education. — An important program for the continuing education of executives gradually developed at the School through the activities of the separate bureaus and institutes as well as through the interest of individuals and groups among the faculty. The direction of the effort was established in the 1950s, but its major growth came later, during the 1960s. There appears to be little doubt that by 1971 the School’s work in continuing education constituted the most highly developed program sponsored by any business school in the United States.
The continuing education program included much more intensive training programs than those found in short workshops and seminars lasting only from two to five days. The first longer executive development session was launched in 1950. This was the Bank Training Program, which was conducted two weeks each year for two years. The second major venture was the four-week Public Utility Executive Program, started in the summer of 1951. Within a few years the demand for the Public Utility Program was so high that two consecutive sessions were soon offered. In 1954 the faculty initiated a more general four-week Executive Development Program. These three programs have been continued each summer.
In addition to the continuing programs initially established in the 1950s, others were given for a few years to meet special requests. One such was for the Blue-Cross and Blue-Shield Associations. In the late 1960s a special two-week program on computer applications was initiated for business school faculty. It was first offered solely by the School of Business Administration but later came to be sponsored jointly with the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.
The School generally assumed responsibility for developing its own continuing-education program, but it frequently joined with the Extension Service in offering special noncredit course work and in conducting special conferences. One important joint effort was the Real Estate Education Program, established by the School in 1947 in cooperation with the Extension Service. For many years this program offered the only professional training in real estate available to practitioners. Attendance at the program became almost a requirement for gaining a real estate license in the state of Michigan. By 1970 this program attracted 3,500 participants a year and offered 80 different courses in 25 locations throughout the state. Sixteen special institutes, lasting a week and covering essentially the same subject matter, were also offered. The Real Estate Education Program was fully supported by tuition revenue which in 1970 amounted to over $230,000.
New Buildings. — In 1940 the School still occupied its initial quarters in Tappan Hall. No serious efforts in developing plans for the new building had been made until 1938, when potential sites were investigated. Final plans for the School’s first building were completed in 1944-45, making the building the first construction to be undertaken on the University campus following World War II. The appropriation for the building was approved by the legislature in its special session in 1946 and construction started the following September. Classes were held in the new building in the fall term of 1947, twenty years after the building was first proposed to the Regents.
Shortly after his appointment Dean Bond began developing plans for additional construction to the School. The original building had reached full utilization and increasing enrollment posed requirements that had not been anticipated in the design of the original building. The large continuing program in management education suggested a pressing need for an advanced management center. This was given fourth priority in the University’s program for the $55-million campaign. The entire building program could be separated into individual projects if necessary, depending upon financing and timing. The William A. Paton Center for Accounting Education and Research represented one element of the total plan. It was initially agreed that the primary source of funds for this Center should be from professional accounting firms.
Among the early generous supporters of the program were Donald C. Cook, who made an initial gift of $50,000 in 1966, and the Consumers Power Company which gave $60,000 in 1967. Although small donations continued, and a general fund-raising program among alumni was initiated, only in 1970 was success assured through a substantial gift from Clayton G. Hale, a graduate of the University and a former lecturer and professor of insurance in the School of Business Administration. In January 1970 he gave $325,000 for an auditorium which would be part of the advanced management complex.
The proposed program for fund raising and construction was approved by the Regents, and ground was broken for the new addition to the school on June 23, 1971. The new unit was completed on schedule and was financed entirely by private gifts.
Library. — The specialized library facilities that were available to students of business administration in Tappan Hall had been extremely limited. In 1940 the holdings of the Business Administration Library consisted of 14,000 books and subscriptions to approximately 225 periodicals and services. Even after the move to the new building, the library holdings remained relatively meager. During much of the fifties, the library budget was wholly inadequate, allowing only about $25,000 for both salaries and books. In 1952, for example, only $2,000 was budgeted for new books.
During this period the library was only partially independent. Full independence was achieved in 1970 when the School of Business Administration Library was given the same status by the Regents as the Law Library and Clements Library. Following this change, the Program in International Business and the Bureau of Industrial Relations, both of which had available additional funds to build up their library resources, integrated their holdings into the main collection.
By 1970 the Library collection comprised about 75,000 books, 640 reels of microfilm, 12,691 pieces of microfiche, 76,000 pamphlets, and 845 serials. Special collections of annual reports for 2,400 corporations were also available, as well as Form K reports to the Securities and Exchange commission. The library staff consisted of five professional librarians operating with a budget of approximately $150,000.
Foreign Contacts. — The School has always attracted a significant number of foreign students. Prior to World War II there were large numbers of Chinese students in attendance. After the war the enrollment shifted, and by the late sixties the School was attracting many students from Japan. At times more than half of the Japanese students at the University of Michigan were registered in the School of Business Administration. In 1971 approximately 5 percent of the enrollment consisted of over 50 foreign students from more than 20 foreign countries.
The students initiated an interesting foreign job exchange program under the sponsorship of the International Association of Students in Economics and Management (AIESEC). At the start of the program in 1963, seven business students spent the summer working abroad for European business concerns. By 1965 the number had increased to sixteen. This program was a cooperative effort between foreign and American students and businessmen. During the sixties the School conducted special programs for students from Venezuela. The program was sponsored by the State Department as part of an international student exchange program.
The faculty and administration formally engaged in foreign-based programs from 1960 onward. The first project was to establish a School of Business and Public Administration at National Chengchi University in Taiwan in cooperation with the University’s Institute of Public Administration. In 1965 an exchange professorship was set up with the Netherlands School of Economics. This led to a formal five-year contract with the Foundation of Management Education, an organization associated with the Netherlands School of Economics. Faculty members from our School were assigned as advisers and teachers in the first program in Holland for the Master of Business Administration degree.
New Technology in Teaching. — Weekly 15-minute radio broadcasts began in 1954. Almost continuously since that time members of the faculty of the School have presented radio and television business broadcasts with the cooperation of the University radio and television centers. In 1970 the School cooperated with the College of Engineering to offer course work over the University of Michigan Instructional Television Network. Eight courses, using live classes in the broadcast studio, were offered to students at receiving studios in Dearborn, Southfield, and Detroit. Because the network provided for remote control of three broadcast cameras in each studio and instantaneous two-way audio, participation of students at all the centers was possible.
Other technological advancements were applied in teaching. By 1970 faculty members were making full use of the computer for instruction and were employing audiovisual and audio cassettes, films, and slides in their classes. Overhead projectors were available and in use in all classrooms.
Special Lecturers. — It has always been a policy of the School to invite outstanding business executives to address the students and to hold discussion sessions with them. Ultimately, this arrangement for visiting lecturers was expanded to include a prominent executive in residence at the School. This program was notably supplemented in 1966 by the creation of the McInally Lecture Endowment Fund, named in honor of former Regent William K. McInally. Arjay Miller, President of Ford Motor Company, gave the first McInally Lecture in 1966. Other speakers since that time have included Richard Armour, Joseph L. Hudson, Jr., H. Bruce Palmer, Paul W. McCracken, and F. Lee Bailey.
Scholarship Funds and Endowed Chairs. — In the mid-fifties the School began a modest solicitation of funds from Alumni to set up scholarships in honor of Professors Paton, Griffin, and Rodkey. These were made available to students in accounting, marketing, and finance. Following this move, a nationwide alumni organization was developed to solicit annual gifts, and by 1971 the program of annual alumni gifts was producing close to $100,000.
In 1967 the S.S. Kresge Foundation created four endowed professorships in leading business schools in the United States in honor of the founder of the company, Sebastian S. Kresge. Gifts amounting to $600,000 were made for endowing chairs at Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia, each of the holders to be known as the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing. Professor James D. Scott was named the first holder of the chair at the School of Business Administration.
In 1970 the partners of the C.P.A. firm of Arthur Young gave funds to a small number of schools to endow chairs for distinguished faculty members who would have the title of Arthur Young Professor of Accounting. The School was again recognized with one of the endowments from the Arthur Young partners.
Alumni Activities. — As early as 1928 the School held an alumni conference in Ann Arbor. Few alumni attended, however, until in 1969 a committee, headed by Richard G. Gerstenberg (later to become Chairman of the Board of General Motors Corporation) suggested that the conference be held in Detroit and be made open to the Detroit business community. From that fall on, the conference was held in the Detroit Rackham Building and became known as the Annual Conference of the Graduate School of Business Administration. Attendance each year has now approached the full capacity of 600.
The first informal Alumni Bulletin was sent to the faculty by Dean Griffin in 1942. Other informal bulletins were sent intermittently during the following years until 1965, at which time the formal Alumni Bulletin was issued at regular intervals. Later this was replaced by the alumni magazine Dividend. Dividend was granted the Time-Life Magazine Improvement Award for the midwest in 1970, and the Award for Distinguished Achievement by the American Alumni Council in 1971.
Many alumni of the School have had distinguished business careers; some of them, the University has singled out for honorary degrees. Among those so honored during this period are: Frederick G. Donner, Chairman of the Board of General Motors Corporation (1961); Lynn A. Townsend, President of Chrysler Corporation (1965); Donald C. Cook, President of American Electric Power Company (1966); Robert P. Briggs, Commissioner of Financial Institutions for the State of Michigan, Regent Emeritus of the University (1969); and Eugene B. Power, Founder of University Microfilms and former Regent of the University (1971).
Floyd A. Bond
Alfred W. Swinyard
The University of Michigan, an encyclopedic survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor, Volume VI, pp. 72-86.
