14 Principals of Henry Fayol

A BREIF INTRODUCTION

Henry Fayol (born 1841 in Istanbul; died 1925 in Paris) was a French management theorist.Fayol was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, having proposed that there are five primary functions of management: (1) planning, (2) organizing, (3) commanding, (4) coordinating, and (5) controlling (Fayol, 1949, 1987). Controlling is described in the sense that a manager must receive feedback on a process in order to make necessary adjustments. Fayol's work has stood the test of time and has been shown to be relevant and appropriate to contemporary management. Many of today’s management texts including Daft (2005) have reduced the five functions to four: (1) planning, (2) organizing, (3) leading, and (4) controlling. Daft's text is organized around Fayol's four functions.Fayol believed management theories could be developed, then taught. His theories were published in a monograph titled General and Industrial Management (1916). This is an extraordinary little book that offers the first theory of general management and statement of management principles.Fayol suggested that it is important to have unity of command: a concept that suggests there should be only one supervisor for each person in an organization. Like Socrates, Fayol suggested that management is a universal human activity that applies equally well to the family as it does to the corporation.

the Father of Modern Operational Management Theory

Fayol has been described as the father of modern operational management theory (George, p. 146). Although his ideas have become a universal part of the modern management concepts, some writers continue to associate him with Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylor's scientific management deals with the efficient organisation of production in the context of a competitive enterprise that has to control its production costs. That was only one of the many areas that Fayol addressed. Perhaps the connection with Taylor is more one of time, than of perspective. According to Claude George (1968), a primary difference between Fayol and Taylor was that Taylor viewed management processes from the bottom up, while Fayol viewed it from the top down. George's comment may have originated from Fayol himself. In the classic General and Industrial Management Fayol wrote that "Taylor's approach differs from the one we have outlined in that he examines the firm from the "bottom up." He starts with the most elemental units of activity -- the workers' actions -- then studies the effects of their actions on productivity, devises new methods for making them more efficient, and applies what he learns at lower levels to the hierarchy...(Fayol, 1987, p. 43)." He suggests that Taylor has staff analysts and advisors working with individuals at lower levels of the organization to identify the ways to improve efficiency. According to Fayol, the approach results in a "negation of the principle of unity of command (p. 44)." Fayol criticized Taylor’s functional management in this way. “… the most marked outward characteristics of functional management lies in the fact that each workman, instead of coming in direct contact with the management at one point only, … receives his daily orders and help from eight different bosses…(Fayol, 1949, p. 68.)” Those eight, Fayol said, were (1) route clerks, (2) instruction card men, (3) cost and time clerks, (4) gang bosses, (5) speed bosses, (6) inspectors, (7) repair bosses, and the ( shop disciplinarian (p. 68). This, he said, was an unworkable situation, and that Taylor must have somehow reconciled the dichotomy in some way not described in Taylor's works.

Fayol graduated from the mining academy of St. Etienne (École des Mines de Saint-Étienne) in 1860. The nineteen-year old engineer started at the mining company Compagnie de Commentry-Fourchambeau-Decazeville, ultimately acting as its managing director from 1888 to 1918. Based largely on his own management experience, Fayol developed his concept of administration. The 14 principles of management were discussed in detail in his book published in 1917, Administration industrielle et générale. It was first published in English as General and Industrial Management in 1949 and is widely considered a foundational work in classical management theory. In 1987 Irwin Gray edited and published a revised version of Fayol’s classic that was intended to “free the reader from the difficulties of sifting through language and thought that are limited to the time and place of composition (Fayol, 1987, p. ix).”

Fayol was a key figure in the turn-of-the-century Classical School of management theory. He saw a manager's job as:• planning • organizing • commanding • coordinating activities • controlling performance Notice that most of these activities are very task-oriented, rather than people-oriented. This is very like Taylor and Scientific Management.

14 Principals of Henry Fayol

1. Division of work: Specialization allows the individual to build up experience, and to continously improve his skills. Thereby he can be more productive. 2. Authority: The right to issue commands, along with which must go the balanced responsibility for its function.3. Discipline: Employees must obey, but this is two-sided: employees will only obey orders if management play their part by providing good leadership.4. Unity Of Command: Each worker should have only one boss with no other conflicting lines of command.5: Unity Of Direction: People engaged in the same kind of activities must have the same objectives in a single plan. this is essential to ensure unity and coordination in the enterprise. Unity of command does not exist without unity of direction but does not necessarily flows from it.6. Sub ordination Of Individual Interest: ( to the general interest). Management must see that the goals of the firms are always paramount.7. Remuneration: Payment is an important motivator although by analyzing a number of possibilities, Fayol points out that there is no such thing as a perfect system.8. Centralization Or Decentralization: This is a matter of degree depending on the condition of the business and the quality of its personnel.9. Scalar Chain(line of Authority): A hierachy is necessary for unity of direction.but lateral communication is also fundamental, as long as superiors know that such communication is taking place.Scalar chain refers to the number of levels in the hierachy from the ultimate authority to the lowest level in the organization.it should not be over-stretched and consist of too-many levels.10. Order: Both material order and social order are necessary.the former minimizes lost time and useless handling of materials.the latter is achieved through organization and selection.11. Equity: In running a business a " combination of kindliness and justice" is needed. Treating employees well is important to achieve equity.12. Stability of Tenure of Personnel: Employees work better if job security and career progress are assured to them.An insecure tenure and a high rate of employee turnover will affect the organization adversely.13. Initiative: Allowing all personnel to show their initiative in some way is a source of strength for the organization. Even though it may well involve a sacrifice of "personnel vanity" on the part of many managers.14. Esprit De Corps: Management must foster the morale of its employees. He further suggests that " real talent is needed to coordinate effort, encourage keenness, use each person's abilities, and reward each one's merit without arousing possible jealousies and disturbing harmonious relation".Out of the 14, the most important elements are specialization, unity of command, scalar chain, and, coordination by managers (an amalgam of authority and unity of direction).