Different Theories Of Management, By Henri Fayol And Henry Mintzberg

Critically discuss the extent to which Fayol's classical analysis of the management function has largely been made redundant by the more recent empirical studies of what managers actually do, such as that favoured by Mintzberg.

The Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University, Henry Mintzberg revolutionized our understanding of what managers do in his landmark book “The Nature of Managerial Work” published in 1973.Known as the guru of bottom-up management, Mintzberg broke with convention by actually going inside companies to witness the business of business. Revealing how strategy is really formulated, he shows here that successful strategy is rarely, if ever, born in solitary contemplation; rather, the elements usually come together in the heat of battle. In addition, Mintzberg identifies the keys to outstanding management. He begins by describing the good manager who successfully combines interpersonal (1, 2, 3), informational (4, 5, 6), and decision-making roles (7, 8, 9, 10).Each role defined as an organized collection of behaviors belonging to an identifiable function or position.

Management, management today is one of the subjects with the most widely branched areas. Management is an area under discussion and criticised since many years before till today by many contributors and authors. There have been developed many ideas and notions regarding the right way to manage and been successful manager. Some of the most important contributors are Henri Fayol and Henry Mintzberg with two different views but, in the same time very similar. Henri Fayol came first with his revolutionary principles and elements to change and establish a new model of ideas regarding how a manager can manage effectively, he also writes a book which can be used as a guide for new inexperienced

Henry Mintzberg and Henri Fayol may have came from totally different era’s but since there is still no definitive answer to ‘what is management’ and how can you manage effectively there has been lots of discussions and criticisms of theirs and other theorists ideas. Yet both Mintzberg and Fayol received praise for their work even though they didn’t use the same method to come to their answers.

The overall purpose of developing the management theories is to bring out better ways to manage people. According to Aguinaldo & Powell (2002), management theory evolves con-stantly with the continuous stream of new ideas that come from the attempts to transform theory into practice, and vice versa. As essential personnel identify promising methods that assist in managing responsibilities, it will lead to management theories progressing. This paper will il-lustrate how management theories have emerged over the years and it will point out the primary reason why it has prospered.

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) described fourteen basic principles of management, which provide the basis for the four basic categories- planning, leading, organising and controlling- used in most contemporary management books (Davidson et al, 2009). Under Fayol’s system, the management process goes beyond the basic hierarchical model developed by Taylor. The command function continues to operate effectively through a series of co-ordination and control methods. Regular managerial meetings were recommended to improve co-ordination of organisational operations (Pindur et al, 1995). Fayol’s categorisation of managerial principles is a useful reference point for contemporary managers to examine their behaviours against (Davidson et al, 1995).

Non classical conceptualizations of managerial work (Mintzberg, Stewart etc.) help define the nature of managerial work. However Fayol’s classical approach best conceptualizes management functions and a manager’s job, so it is the best source to be used for educational purposes.

Management functions have traditionally been defined in terms of planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Since the publication of The Nature of Managerial Work (1973), academics have questioned the validity of the classical model, compared with Mintzberg’s ten managerial roles. Fayol’s five processes of management functions are essential for studying constituent elements of management, while Mintzberg’s model further details the complex, multidimensional nature of management. In essence, despite their differences, both approaches should be integrated to foster the most useful understanding of management.

The last one role is decision-making roles. The manager has to make many important decisions for his organization for he knows more information about his organization than any of his subordinates. He must be responsible for his organization and he must do the important choices represent his organization. What he do will decide the development or failure of his organization, not just himself. Thus, in the manager is at the heart of the decision-making system.

Management has constantly been a broad topic. Managing human resources is continuously unpredictable because we all react differently in comparable scenarios. However, for managers it is vital to be able to control an organisation efficiently, in order to exploit any opportunities open to it. Henri Fayol deliberated management back in 1916. His ideas, however, have been questioned by the more recent research of Henry Mintzberg. In this essay we will look at

• Discuss Fayol’s contributions to management theory. • Describe Max Weber’s contribution to management theory. • Explain how today’s managers use general administrative theories of management.

Henri Fayol, the first father of formal management statements, who wrote down five elements of management behaviour – planning, organising, coordinating, commanding and controlling. (Wren and Bedeian, 2009) During over 50 years, Fayol’s management functions have been challenged continuously by new developed theories in modern society, considering Fayol’s functions are “folklore”, as mentioned by Mintzberg (1990, pp 50), it is improper to building a theory from own experience, then Mintzberg outlined three main categories of management roles – information roles, interpersonal roles and decisional roles. (Mintzberg, 2010) It is claimed that Fayol’s functions have been made redundant by modern theory of Mintzberg. Debate also has been triggered on which one is more useful at current, Fayol or Mintzberg. While there is no deny that Fayol’s management function has a great significance in management organisation, this essay will argue that Fayol’s theory has not been redundant when facing more empirical theories that wrote by Mintzberg. In order to demonstrate this, it will first, examine two main arguments with evidence against Fayol’s theory, claiming the limitation of commanding and controlling in reality and problem of decision-making as well. It will then illustrate strengthens of adapting Fayol’s management function, using its successful examples.

Henri Fayol 's managerial activities are recognized as being essential and are specially emphasized as being universal for achieving an organization 's goals (Pugh and Hickson, 1964). The undeniable contribution to management has provided a system of concepts which has become a leading guide for managers in most organizations. Though there were few authors who weren 't affected by Fayol 's work, there were some who criticized his work as being idealist and ignoring the reality of management. Mintzberg 's theory of 3 management roles suggests an improved view on what managers are supposed to do. Thirsty, this essay will introduce management theories of Fayol and Mintzberg in more detail by deepening in each concept of management, as well as considering views of different authors on their ideas. Secondly, comparison of two theories will be held, which will at the same time analyse the functions and processes in describing managerial tasks. The objective of this essay is to critically analyse the concept of management introduced by Fayol.

Management is the process of managing a business through people by using the role of the Directorate. There are four managements’ functions including planning, organising, leading and controlling. Every organisation has its employers who can determine the success and failure of their business. Over the last few decades, it has been a growing competition among institutions from all over the globe. Therefore, there have been some of the ways, which have altered organisations and jobs. These ways are the increasing number of technology, globalisation of organisations and workforce expectations.

The practice of management is very ancient, however the formal study of management is comparatively new. Management as a proper discipline developed after the tip of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless it should be admitted that management has been in existence since humankind became systematized into formal groups. It is very difficult to come up with a definition of management which could totally satisfy all professionals or skilled people or all management theorists. For a broad operating definition consider management as an activity that performs certain functions to obtain the effective acquisition, allocation, and utilization of human efforts and physical resources to accomplish some goal (Wren 2005, p. 3). Modern management has grown with the growth of social-economics and scientific institution. Nowadays workers do not work only for money. They work for satisfaction and happiness with sensible living style. These are the most vital issues now. Modern management explanation (of why something works or happens the way it does) refers to highlighting the use of well-thought-out mathematical ways of doing things within the system with analyzing and understanding the inter-relationship of management and staff. Organizational efficiency and service quality can be increased through the implication of management theories. Today managers simply do not use a singular theory, infect they use a series of theories depending on the workplace, purpose and workforce. Still, few