Theoretical Management and Its Modern Day Applicability

The functions of Fayol and the roles of Mintzberg have been considered and the links between these two have been pointed out. Through broader reconciliation of Fayol and Mintzberg’s perspectives, Fells indicates that Fayol’s view is supported and reinforced by the contemporary models of management, such as Mintzberg, Taylor etc. (Fells, 2000 pg.347)

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

The administrative management viewpoint evolved early in the 1900s and is most closely identified with Henri Fayol (1841-1925), a French industrialist. Fayol’s work, “Administration industrielle et générale (1916)”, later translated into the 1949 “General and industrial administration”, is one of the first and most widely quoted analyses on management. As a result, Fayol influenced many writers, most notably Urwick. Although, there have been many theories supporting Fayol’s ideas, but there have been many writers who have directly opposed Fayol, the most prominent one being Henry Mintzberg, who in his “The Nature of Managerial Work (1973)” regarded Fayol’s ideas as “folklore”. The aim of this essay is to evaluate the works of both Fayol and Mintzberg, discussing the pros and cons of both the theories. Moreover, the essay will depict that how Fayol has been able to withstand “the test of time” and prove that his theory cannot be termed as “folklore”.

Planning is the first function; Managers make use of planning to choose suitable business objectives and make out the right strategy to attain their objectives. It takes vigilant planning to make any business run at its total capacity and achieve the objectives set. Implementing planning function is element of each function of management; it is the base to construct a fruitful business. With no careful planning, and structure, a business by no means survives. Our AT&T store manager presented a set of objectives in the plan that was protracted in great feature it was a plan of action, not just words to attain the objectives.

Management has experienced remarkable shifts in the way that organizations conduct business particularly in the last century, due to the evolving workplace as well as tremendous changes in the roles of leaders in organizations. Early managers often relied on authoritative tactics to get the job done, which we have learned from history does not work very well for many modern organizations. In this paper, I will be analyzing the management approach my organization takes and whether this is the best approach to meet organizational goals and whether or not my organization may benefit from adopting a different approach or combining multiple approaches.

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

Since Fayol left his general manager office, separated management from business operation and studied it, management has become an independent subject. A number of academics and entrepreneurs are desirous to find what management is and how to be a successful manager. Therefore, through varied approaches, many different views about management has been appearing such as Fayol’s function theory (1949) which based on his owe managing experience and Mintzberg’s 10 roles theory (1973) which came from observing five chief-executive officers. Furthermore, Mintzberg regarded Fayol’s theory as “folklore”. It seems that Fayol’s theory has been made redundant by Mintzberg’s study. The purpose of this paper, however, is to present that

Over the past hundred years management has continuously been evolving. There have been a wide range of approaches in how to deal with management or better yet how to improve management functions in our ever changing environment. From as early as 1100 B.C managers have been struggling with the same issues and problems that manager's face today. Modern managers use many of the practices, principles, and techniques developed from earlier concepts and experiences.

In today’s ever changing economy, society’s idea of management is becoming increasingly more difficult to sustain with the continuous demands of the position. A successful manager must have a certain level of expertise and problem solving techniques to carry out the daily tasks required. Over the years, there have been various ideas on what management is, such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

The paper will explore different theories of Management, include Henri Fayol and Henry Mintzberg. This section of this paper provides an overview of functions, roles and skills required of a manager. What is Management? Management can define as the process of reaching organisational goals by working with and through people and other organisational resources. (Management Innovation, 2008).

Early management theories adopted by such proponents as Henri Fayol, Mary Parker Follett and Max Weber are relevant in todays’ world. In this essay I am going to discuss about all three theorists and how their theories are still relevant for managers in the 21st century in meeting the challenges. In the classical approach to management there are three branches under it. They are, scientific management, administrative principles and bureaucratic organisation. Henry Fayol and Mary Parker Follett developed theories for administrative principles and Max Weber developed a theory for bureaucratic organisation (Schermerhorn et al. 2014, p.36). First we will be going through Henri Fayol and then Mary Parker Follett as they both made theories

The definition of ‘management’ is controversial and subject to much debate. There have been many contradictory views on what the term ‘management’ means and accordingly how one should correctly manage an organisation. These theories have been put forward by several highly regarded management scholars over time. By taking into account past knowledge and contemporary views on management, we are able to ‘’explore how thinking has changed through time’’. (Brooks, 2006). Moreover, businesses have, and can continue to be able to adapt these theories and put them into practice. Successfully applying correct management practices is especially vital in a global business environment which is becoming very competitive. ‘’Most management theories, even those that do not resonate comfortably with the prevailing mood, have attractive and valid elements to them.’’ (Robinson, 2005). For example, some of these theories can be seen flourishing in fast food chains like McDonalds.

Where scientific management theory focuses on individuals in the workplace, administrative management focuses on the work group. This theory was developed by Henri Fayol and is the process of getting things done through people and gives importance to groups and not to individual people. Fayol is also known as the “Father of Modern Management”. Henry Fayol published his book in 1916 titled “Industrial and General Administration” and gave his own 14 rules of management. These 14 rules of management that should guide an organization and put an emphasis on chain of command, allocation of authority, order, efficiency, equity, and stability. (Lunenberg, Irby, 2013). Fayol was also the first person to recognize that management is an ever continuous process.

By the time Henri Fayol had finished his theory, General Industrial Management, in 1916, which was based on his reminiscence as a successful turnaround of a major mining company from depths of failure; he set out to illustrate management as being a separate entity to other jobs within an organisation as he would say although “technical” and “commercial” “function” were “clearly defined”, “administrative” education was lacking. In his theory he introduced his five duties a manager had to follow to be called effective: plan, organise coordinate, command, and control and added to this fourteen principles he felt managers should use as reference to conduct the five duties. However Fayol was very much an idealist his theory was based on what a complete manager should be like and gave the view of managers taking control from behind a desk, yet critics, most influential being the academic Henry Mintzberg, who released his work in 1973, were more realists and saw a manager life as chaotic, involved and interactive, arguing what Fayol was portraying is not possible, and outdated.

Management is one of the most important human activities and has critical impact on life, growth, development or destruction of an organisation. In an organisation, managers with any rank or status should understand their basic duties i.e. maintaining a sustainable conductive environment where people can fulfil their commitments and objectives through collaborative approach. (Akhtar, 2011) A manager is responsible to achieve the business’s goals, visions and objectives by planning, organising, leading and controlling. Dubrin (1994) stated that in every organisation each member of staff must plan, organise, make decisions, and control the resources they need to accomplish the results expected