the Pepperdine MSOD Community remembers
a giant in the field and
 one of the program's biggest supporters
BOB TANNENBAUM
June 29th 1915
March 14th 2003

Robert Tannenbaum, a pioneer in the applications of behavioral science
principles to the practice of management and the direction of organizations,
died March 14 at his home in Carmel, California. A professor at UCLA's
Graduate School of Management, now The Anderson School, Bob Tannenbaum was a
leader in the West Coast movement that took root in the middle of the last
century that changed the concept of "organization man," replacing it with a
theory that stressed personal development and team work as instrumental to
organization effectiveness, and the emergence of human capital as an
essential driver for corporate success. He is survived by Edith Tannenbaum,
his loving wife of 57 years, two daughters, Judith and Deborah, three grand
children, and literally thousands of admirers and friends. He was 86.

After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1948, Bob
spent the first part of his career at UCLA leading the Graduate School of
Management in becoming one of the key centers of thought and practice in the
field of organization and leadership development. The essence of his work is
basically a set of values about people: provide them opportunities to
self-discover and grow, remove barriers to the emergence of trusting
relationships, grant them the authority to motivate and control themselves,
and believe in their capacity to integrate their own personal values with
the goals of the organization. His intellectual work and charismatic
teaching emphasized organizational systems commensurate with what is known
about human nature and revising the objectivist view of corporations, seeing
them not as machines with interchangeable human parts, but as living
communities that could be designed to enable people to grow and learn while
achieving a mutual business goal. His written work and his teaching focused
on one big truth: that understanding one's basic assumptions about self and
other people is essential to realizing one's potential to become a competent
leader.

Dr. Tannenbuam's written works have been selective, almost always with
penetrating impact. Two articles in the HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, "How to
Choose a Leadership Pattern" and "Management of Differences" set records for
reprint requests. But his major influence was interpersonal. As one of
his former students, Professor Samuel Culbert, put it, "His ideas were made
more profound by his personal way of being; his affirmation of people and
their individuality communicated instantly." Because of Tannenbuam's
influence, California became the incubator and the place to go in
understanding how organizations could either sponsor or sabotage personal
growth, human potential, and organizational change. He created a milieu that
made it possible for people to grow and change with a ripple effect that
reached out well beyond those who experienced him and his teachings first
hand.

Bob Tannenbaum took an early retirement from UCLA in 1977 and spent the
second part of his career consulting and coaching thousands of executives,
change agents, and scholars on the dynamics of organizations and human
development. He was active in developing Pepperdine University's Master's
Program in Organization Development and received many honors including an
honorary doctorate from the Saybrook Institute, Fellow of the NTL Institute,
Distinction in the OD Network, and was the first recipient of the American
Society for Training and Development Lifetime Achievement Award.