1.
HENRI
FAYOL
Scores
of people have contributed to the evolution of western management thought. It
is no wonder that many historians of the European management thought consider
Fayol as a pioneer of scientific management.Henri Fayol's Administration
lndustrielle et Generale was first published in France in 1916, but it did not
come to light in the English-speaking countries until its English translation
was published in 1929.
Fayol's Career
v
Henri
Fayol was born in 1841 of a French middle class family.
v
After
his graduation in mining engineering, Fayol was appointed as an engineer in a
mining company (S.A. Commentry-fourcharnbault) in 1860.
v
By
1888 he had risen to the position of Managing Director of the company.
v
He
retired from the position of Managing Director in 1918.T
v
Though
he remained Director of the company until his death in December 1925, at the
age of eighty-four.
Publications and books
by Henri Fayol et al.
a)
1927.
The importance of the administrative factor. Readings in management: Landmarks
and new frontiers.
b)
1918.
L administration positive dans l industrie. La Technique Moderne, 1, 74.
c)
1916.
General and Industrial Management. Martino Fine Books.
d)
1908.
A Discussion of principals of Administration.
e)
1915.
General and Industrial Administration.
Fayol suggests that Managers should have
the following attributes:
1
|
Physical
|
Health, vigour and appearance.
|
2
|
Mental
|
ability to understand and learn, judgement, mental
Vigour and adaptability.
|
3
|
Moral
|
Firmness and willingness to accept responsibility.
|
4
|
General Education
|
general acquaintance with matters not belonging
Exclusively to the function performed.
|
5
|
Special Knowledge
|
special knowledge of the function being handled,
Be it technical, commercial, financial or managerial.
|
6
|
Experience
|
Knowledge arising from the work proper.
|
Henri
Fayol states that the principles of management are not rigid.On the contrary,
they must be capable of adaptation to various enterprises and settings. From
his discussion of management theory, Fayol derives fourteen principles. These
are following:
a.
Division of work: Specialisation
of labour produces more and better work with the same effort
b.
Authority and Responsibility: Authority
should be commensurate with responsibility.
c.
Discipline: Obedience should be observed
in accordance with the standing agreements between the firm and its employees.
d.
Unity of Command: For any action
an employee should have only one boss.
e.
Unity of direction: One head
and one plan for each activity.
f.
Subordination of individual interest to general interest: The interest of one employee or group should not prevail over
that of the total organisation.
g.
Remuneration of personnel: The
remuneration paid for services rendered should be fair and afford satisfaction
to both personnel and the firm.
h. Centralisation: The degree
of initiative left to managers varies
Henry Fayol’s Contribution to Management
Henry
Fayol (1841-1925) started his career as a junior engineer in a coal mine
company in France and became its general manager in 1880.His ideas on
management have been summed up as the Administrative
Management Theory, which later evolved into the Management Process
School .Fayol’s contribution to management can be discussed under the following
four heads:
Division of Industrial Activities:
Fayol
observed the organisational functioning from manager’s point of view.He found
that all activities of the industrial enterprise could be divided into six
groups:
a) Technical
(relating to production);
b) Commercial
(buying, selling and exchange);
c) Financial
(search for capital and its optimum use) ;
d) Security
(protection of property and persons);
e) Accounting
(Preparation of various statements, accounts, returns etc.) and
f) Managerial
(planning, organisation, command, co-ordination and control)
Qualities
of an Effective Manager:
Henry Fayol was the first person to recognise the different
qualities for manager.
According to him these qualities are:
a) Physical
(health, vigour, and address);
b) Mental
(ability to understand and learn, judgement, mental vigour, and adaptability) ;
c) Moral
(energy, firmness, willingness to accept responsibility, initiative, loyalty,
tact and dignity);
d) Educational
(acquaintance with matters related to general functioning) ;
e) Technical
(peculiar to the functions being performed); and
f) Experience
(arising from the work).
Functions
of Management:
Fayol
classified the elements of management into five and all such elements were
considered by him as the functions of management.
According
to him following are the functions of management:
v Planning:
Deciding
in advance what to do. It involves thought and decision relating to a future
course of action.
v Organising:
Providing
everything that is useful to a business enterprise for its operation i.e., men,
materials, machines and money etc.
v Commanding:
Maintaining
activity among personnel (lead the personnel in a better way).
v Co-coordinating:
The channelisation of group efforts in the direction of achieving the desired objective of the
enterprise (binding together-unifying and harmonising all activity).
v Controlling:
Seeing
that everything is being carried out according to the plan which has been
adopted, the orders which have been given, and the principles which have been
laid down.
Fayol
observed that these principles apply not only to business enterprise, but also
to political, religious, philanthropic or other undertakings.
Principles
of Management:
Hentry
Fayol evolved 14 principles that can be applied in all management situations
irrespective of the types of organisation.
1) Division of work:
Reduces the span of attention or effort for any one person
or
group. Develops practice or routine and familiarity
2) Authority and Responsibility: "The right to give orders. Should not be
considered without reference to responsibility."
3) Discipline:
"Outward marks of respect in accordance with formal or informal agreements
between a firm and its employees."
4) Unity of command:
"One man one superior!"
5) Unity of direction:
"One head and One plan for a group of activities with the same
objective."
6) Subordination of Individual Interests to
the Common Interest: "The interests of one individual or group should not prevail
over the general or common good."
7) Remuneration of personnel:
"Pay should be fair to both the worker as well as the organisation."
8) Centralisation:
"Is always present to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the size of
the company and the quality of its managers."
9) Scalar chain:
"The line of authority from top to bottom of the organisation."
10) Order: "A place for everything
and everything in its right place; ie. The right man in the right place."
11) Equity: "A combination
of kindness and justice towards employees."
12) Stability of personnel tenure:
"Employees need to be given time to settlein to their jobs, even though
this may be a lengthy period in the case of somemanagers."
13) Initiative:
"Within the limits of authority and discipline, all levels of staffshould
be encouraged to show initiative."
14) Esprit de corps (Union is strength):
"Harmony is a great strength to anorganization; teamwork should be encouraged."
Criticisms of Fayol's Ideas
1) Fayolism
has been criticised on several grounds. Structuralists have argued that while
devoting considerable attention to functional classification Fayol neglected the
structural aspect. To that extent,Fayol's treatment of the organisation has
been considered defective.
2) Peter
Drucker, a major critic of Fayolism, observes that some of the worst mistakes of
organisation-building have been committed by imposing a mechanistic model of an
'ideal' or 'universal' organisation on a living business.Moreover, the fourteen
principles which Fayollists have a great deal of overlapping.
3) Although
functionalism is empirically expedient, it is found to be deficient in design
and logic. It takes a single dimension of management to determine all facets of
the organisation structure around it.
4) More
recentcritics of the principle of unity of command lament that it would dysfunctional the organisation to strengthen the hierarchy, based onthis
principle, where the sense of unity is less, personal contact is limited and
real differences of outlook are desirable
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