Management

In the early 1900s, large organizations were finding that they needed to be managed too. At the time little management models and procedures were in place until scientists like Henri Fayol came along and paved the way. Henri was born in 1841 and his first concepts in principles of management are the underlying factors for successful management.

a. Specify your point of view: Answer the question “Is Henri Fayol’s management theory relevant today? ”Today 's world is highly complex with ever changing technology, increasing threats regarding climate change, medicine, global security, diversity in the

With regard to classical approaches to management, there are various important authors such as Frederic Taylor, Frank and Lilian Gibreth and so forth but Henri Fayol is considered as the most influential name in traditional managements because of his precious contributions. First of all is the concept of six organisational activities - technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and management - running smoothly and constantly within every entrepreneur. Second one is the five standards of management including Foresight, Organisation, Command, Coordination and Control which relatively match to the four functions of current management namely Planning, Organising, Leading and Controlling. Last but not least, the fourteen principles - Division of work, authority and responsibility,

The phrase "management is what managers do" occurs widely, suggesting the difficulty of defining management, the shifting nature of definitions and the connection of managerial practices with the existence of a managerial cadre or class.

A number of different major schools of management thoughts have been emerged since 100 years ago. Various views of management have been arisen and affected the managerial skills both in the past and the present.

Henri Fayol believed by targeting on managerial practices so that way he could decrease the misunderstandings and increase efficiency in organizations. He educated the managers about how to achieve their managerial duties and the practices in which they are engaged in. He created a management style that could be applied and used in all management situations. He also focused on Industrial Management, which molded modern industrial management in companies to this day. His theories are applicable and in doing so has shaped administrative management as much as the lower level

Fayol identified 14 principles of management which he wanted to be applied flexibly. Here are Fayol’s 14

Management can be defines as “the organization and coordination of the activities of a business in order to achieve defined objectives” (businessdictionary.com, 2014). Pryor and Taneja (2010) regard to Henri Fayol as a ‘pioneer on the field of management theory’. He developed one of the first studies of management, which was a general theory of business administration that approaches management and organisations in a rational approach. His view on management is sometimes called Fayolism (Witzel, 2003).

One popular view from Wren (1994) is that the work of Fayol and Mintzberg is talking about individual areas of management which are different rather than conflicting views. This could be due to the unique motivating factors from their own personal back grounds which encouraged them to talk about management. Jean-Louis Peaucelle (2012) spoke about Henri Fayol’s minor military background, as his father was posted to fulfil this military service. He speaks about how these factors motivated Fayol into pursing management. Hence, showing us that Fayol had more of a strict view on management which is followed up by the work of Dr Gordon Pearson. Dr Pearson then continues stating that Fayol’s structure and principles gave management authority to give orders and have them obeyed. Whilst workers must be soley focused on the objectives of the organisation whilst act work. Furthermore his work displays little from a social aspect of management. Henri Fayol focused on the business goals and objectives rather than its

Henri Fayol was born in 1841 into a French middle class family. Graduating from the National School of Mines at the age of 19 as a mining engineer, he started out his career at Commentry Fourchamboult Company where he remained throughout his working life. Progressing into general management during his early thirties he later became Managing Director, instigating the company’s rise from being on the verge of bankruptcy to becoming one of the leading steel producers and mining operators. He wrote many technical papers on mining engineering and the geology of coal fields, later turning his focus to general administration, publishing Administration Industrielle et Générale in 1916 which was translated in 1949.

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.

For Henri Fayol, management was not so much as a way of devising systems to increase productivity but it was concerned with the integration of the different functions of the organisation such as production, sales, finance and so on (Wren, 1994).

Planning also is inclusive of determining strategies to meet objectives and usually includes an organization forming a mission statement to which serves and guides an organization. For example the managers at the Bendigo Bank reinforce and state in their ‘mission statement’: “we will focus on building and improving the prospects of our customers, communities and partners in order to develop sustainable earnings and growth for our business and thus provide increasing wealth for our shareholders” (Bendigo Bank, 2010 cited in Krachler et al 2010, p.36). Fayol also assesses and stresses the roles of then organizing and mobilizing “raw materials, tools, capital and personnel”, commanding or selecting ideal labour inputs (human capital)to best accomplish the goals as crucial (Schermerhorn et al 2011, p.90). Without such effective resource allocation, organizations would be unorganized and without direction. With the co-ordination and then control by managers, organizations are able to “harmonize all activities of concern so as to facilitate its working and its success”(Fayol, 1949 cited in Lamond 2004 pp.331-332). Fayol’s theoretical concepts and analysis has built the foundations for modern day managers. The five functions he developed are fundamental and relevant to current day senior managers performing anything from capital

Today the business community considers Fayol 's classical management theory as a relevant guide to productively managing staff. It would be safe to assume that Henri Fayol 's Principles of Management are going to be around for a long time and have an enormous impact on the lives of many people.