In this essay, I have chosen to discuss how Max Weber (1864-1920) and Henri Fayol (1841-1925) compare and contrast in their ideology and contributions to the field of management. Max Weber focused on how to structure an organisation to become successful. He developed six main elements to promote this success, which he considered would develop efficiency. He called it bureaucracy. Bureaucracy has its advantages and disadvantages, it was considered to be “both rational and efficient” (Tiernan, Morley, 2013, p. 17), but for example Weber’s rather strict division of labour also led to workers becoming bored and unmotivated. The six elements that he created were; Division of labour, Hierarchy, Selection, Career orientation, Formalisation and Impersonality. …show more content…
Now I would like to compare how Weber’s element of selection intrusted that ‘qualification certificates’ were instrumental with an employee’s place in the organisation, but it also was dependant on “the consent (‘election’) of the members of the official body.” (Gerth, H H, Mills, C. Wright, 1998, p.200). Fayol does not distinctively discuss the process of hiring staff in his fourteen principles. Here is one of the first signs of contrast between the two theorists. He outlines that the stability of tenure is highly important in an organisation. Rather than training in new employees which is a high cost ordeal he believes that ensuring staff are happy and having a low staff turnover rate is a lot more efficient (Rodrigues, 2001). A higher rate of pay may be the deciding factor for an employee to stay at an organisation, at the time this was an important principle in management. Unfortunately as Rodrigues (2001) wrote it is less relevant in some organisation in today’s world, such as McDonald’s, as they prefer to pay less wages to new staff rather higher wage to keep on the same employees, i.e. they prefer a higher employee turnover rate. The contrast in Weber and Fayol’s outlook does not imply that one element or …show more content…
The two have been compared and contrasted above throughout and from that we can deduce they exclude the concept of the external environment effecting an organisation, which is not the case. This is why there is no one theorist with the complete solution to success in an organisation, but both of these men have hugely affected the work place for everyone since their work has been recognised. They agree upon the importance of the division of labour, the idea of a hierarchy and rules within an organisation. In contrast to this they handle such matters as equity and impersonality, which are similar concepts, very differently as stated. Fayol was more personal than Weber; he embraced team work and initiative in employees. These points I have brought up show a clear comparison yet slight contrast between the theorists, and I have shown this throughout as to how they have contributed in the field of
He contended that they were characterized by social conflict and he additionally presented the “thought of the working class which he saw as comprising of those occupations bunches with capabilities and aptitudes that furnished them with business points of interest. In Weber's perspective, advanced society, particularly the Western world, is developing progressively think. As the reader will see, Weber viewed organization as a definitive case of justification. Consequently, Weber can be seen as being centrally concerned with the rationalization of society all in all and, all the more particularly, its
Henri Fayol was an Engineer and French industrialist. He recognizes the management principles rather than personal traits. Fayol was the first to identify management as a continuous process of evaluation. Fayol developed five management functions. These functions are roles performed by all managers which includes planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Additionally, he recognizes fourteen principles that should guide management of organizations.
Taylor developed his management theories from the shop floor by studying workers and processes. He came up with 4 principles that managers should apply all of which were composed by the studying of workers and experimentation. From his experiences Taylor thought that workers were motivated by income and that the only effective way to increase productivity was to increase the monetary incentives (Simha and Lemak 2010). Taylor’s theories tend to come from what is needed at the bottom levels of an organization and then begin to look up as to how that can be applied at the management level. Fayol on the other hand, not surprisingly as he was the managing director of the company he worked for, tended to look at things from the top down and noticed that an organization needed a hierarchy in order to run smoothly. He once noted how a horse breaking its leg in one of the mines stalled work because the manager was not around and no one had the authority to get another horse (Wren and Bedeian 2009). This sort of observation shows the necessity to have hierarchy in a company so as to limit the impact such situations can have in the absence of a
Georg Simmel and Max Weber will first be addressed individually to outline their lives and their works. Even though Simmel and Weber both were born in the same country, they led different lives. The obvious differences among Simmel and Weber are seen in their younger years of their lives. While their works are different, they may have been working for a similar result. Simmel and Weber are now considered to have made an historic impact in the sociological world. Their individual contribution to the sociological work has been significant and will be discussed in sociology classes forever. This paper will outline the differences and similarities of Georg Simmel and Max Weber.
His 14 universal principles of management, listed in Table 1.1, were intended to show managers how to carry out their functional duties. Fayol’s functions and principles have withstood the test of time because of their widespread applicability. In spite of years of reformulation, rewording, expansion, and revision, Fayol’s original management functions still can be found in nearly all management texts. In fact, after an extensive review of studies of managerial work, a pair of management scholars
Management is a very complex field. Not only must managers pay attention to what is best for the organization, but they also have to do what is best for their customers. At the same time, the manager must satisfy the need of their employees. Henri Fayol developed fourteen principles of management in 1916 that organisations are recommended to apply to order to run properly. This paper will show how some of Fayols
While scientific development emphasised principles to improve worker effectiveness, another branch within the classical school arose, administrative management, with its main contributor being French industrialist Henri Fayol. He is regarded as the father of administrative management as he proposed fourteen principles of management intended to assist managers in determining what to do to manage an organisation more effectively (Rodrigues, 2001). Fayol’s ideas are still valid in today’s organisations and his definitions of management are widely used in this field of study. In his book General and Industrial Management, published in 1916, he defined management as “to manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control” (Fayol, 1916). This definition yielded the now known functions of management. Fayol’s approach to management has several similarities with Taylor’s scientific management theory. Included in Fayol’s fourteen principles is the division of work, which outlined the need for workers to specialise in specific jobs (Rodrigues, 2001). This idea of work specialisation has been derived from Taylor’s principles of scientific management. Furthermore, the empowerment of managers, proper training of employees and the use of a reasonable rewards system were principles that originated
Taylor believed that people in all aspects of a business should do the work that they were best equipped to. “Managers would therefore direct and allocate work, and workers would complete the task”. Managers should be the ones responsible for the selection process, training and development of the employee. (Morley 2013,p15). This is extremely similar to what Weber believed in. He thought that a well defined hierarchy was one of the main characteristics of a bureaucracy. Organisations were designed with a clear structure from top to bottom. The people with the most power and authority in a business were located at the top. The people with the least authority were located near, or at the bottom of the organisation. “All positions within a bureaucracy are structured in a way permitting the higher positions to supervise and control the lower positions.” (Taylor 1939,44-54). Weber strived to provide a clear chain of command, which would mean that workers knew who they were answerable to and would prevent work overload for a particular manager or supervisor. It facilitated control and order throughout the business. The division of labour has many strengths within a business but there are also a few weaknesses. The division of labour ensures that the right person has a job to which they are well suited. They are assigned jobs which suit their skills and furthermore, this improves efficiency
While he highlights a lot of positives, he also saw a lot of issues within bureaucracy. Webers’ bureaucracy is a bottom line model that values calculable decision making over all else. Within this model are the people, or parts, that can be replaced if they cause a decrease in productivity. The issue becomes that the rationalized view of bureaucratic systems is unable to see individuals and respond to individual needs. There is a format and if someone does not fit in, or if they begin to fall behind, there is no understanding or support. His argument is that the bureaucratization of our world has made it depersonalized.
Essay: What are the differences and similarities between Marx's and Weber's understandings of capitalist society?
Henri Fayol’s theory was almost a century old and was originally written in French. Further review on several journal articles has led to an overview background of Fayol’s working life which provided the foundation that conceptualized his theory. According to Wren (2001), Fayol was appointed as the Director in a mining company, Decazeville, where he succeeded to turnaround the company to become profitable. Fayol was the first person to classify the functions of a manager’s job. Fayol (1949; as cited in Wren, 2001) identified five key functions in managerial works.as planning, organising, command, coordination and control. Planning consists of any managerial work that involves setting goals and coordinating actions to
Essay: What are the differences and similarities between Marx's and Weber's understandings of capitalist society?
Max Weber's theory of rationalization is an extensively studied theory within sociology. Weber’s theory uses the model of bureaucracy to symbolize the constant shifting ways of our society. Rationalization is the process of replacing rationally consistent rules for conventional or rather illogical rules within society. According to Weber, bureaucracy is the fundamental model of rational rule. They are extremely predictable, in both the job process but also labor production. Bureaucracies are more worried with the amount of production than the value of the product itself. Weber viewed this structure as ineffective and completely flawed.
This essay is a critical analysis of the theories given by Max Weber of leadership, religion and rationalization.
Henri Fayol: Henri Fayol was administrative management’s most articulate spokesperson. A French industrialist, Fayol was unknown to U.S. managers and scholars until his most important work, General and Industrial Management, was translated into English in 1930. 16 Drawing on his own managerial experience, he attempted to systematize the practice of management to provide guidance and direction to other managers. Fayol also was the first to identify the specific managerial functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. He believed that these functions accurately reflect the core of the management process. Most contemporary management books still use this framework, and practicing managers agree that these