Introduction
There is often great debate regarding the ‘best’ way to manage. The classical theorists, who were concerned with what managers ‘should’ do to achieve efficiency, created a list of principles of management that could, in theory, be applied to any organisation of any size/type. However, modern theorists, such as Mintzberg, often disagreed with this approach to management, saying that what managers actually do in real life is vastly different to the principles put forward by the likes of Henri Fayol. This essay will discuss whether Fayol’s classic analysis of management has been made redundant by more recent empirical studies, and will discover which ideas are more useful.
Fayol’s Work
Henri Fayol was the first person to really think about management. His first published work in 1916, ‘Administration Industrielle et Générale’ conveyed his ideas, in which he described the key functions and principles of management. These functions were; planning and forecasting, organising, directing, co-ordinating and controlling. He also identified 14 principles of ‘How to manage’, which included: job specialisation, authority, and discipline amongst others. Fayol (1916) said that this list included the main principles which he had encountered in his working life but explained that the list is ‘non – exhaustive.’ He based his ideas on his own experiences at his place of work -
…show more content…
He said that, in reality, Fayol’s principles of management could not be seen in an organisation, and that they are only vague ideas of what management is about. Carlson (1951) agreed that Fayol’s functions were vague and could not be linked to specific activities. He went on to say that if you were to ask a manager which functions of management he/she had carried out during his working day, he/she would not
Sachs, A. (2010). Management, Plain and Simple. Time, 175(15), Global 4. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
PPA 660: Organization theory presented me an understanding of why organizations behave in a specific manner as well as why the individuals in those organization behave as they do. While some of the topics discussed in class seemed rudimentary at the time of lecture, such as Fayol’s principles of management and Gulick’s POSDCORB, ultimately I came to realize that this is only because these are the practices I am accustomed to observing. In hindsight, the concepts and ideas presented by Fayol and Gulick in their era were groundbreaking. At the end of the course, I was able to take away concepts of organizational culture, leadership, power, authority, motivation, group behavior and decision-making. The following are specific areas of organizational theory that I consider as my strengths of the topics discussed however, they do not represent my entire understanding of the subject matter.
Douglas McGregor in his book (1960), The Human Side of Enterprise he proposed this theory, instead of descriptive labels he called it Theory X and Theory Y. These two theories were two extremes, thus the whole spectrum of possible behaviours in between. According to these theories, although the basic premise is that the management’s role is to assemble the factors of production, people and for the economic benefit of the organization, beyond this point these two theories takes diversion.
Mr. Nardelli views management as top-down, command and control style, appreciated by efficiency managers, but criticized by many. He especially focused on process controls and metrics (including cost and quality). He also borrowed many management principles from the military and especially hired managers, who served in the military (Nussbaum, 2007). Nardelli worked hard to build a disciplined team (with order, high-pressure, and high standards) (Grow 2006).
Rodrigues, C. (2001), “Fayol’s 14 Principles of Management then and now: a framework for managing today’s organisations effectively”, Monclair State University, New Jersey.
Wren. (2005). The History of Management Thought (5th ed.). Danvers, MA: Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1976)
Nowadays, management has become an important part of the society. The role of management is to assist the organisation to make the best use of its resource to achieve its goal. Base on the aim of management, one of the theorists Henri Fayol proposed the four necessary management functions: planning, organisation, leading, controlling are the tools managers use to achieve these goals. (Jones 2006) This essay is going to describe and discuss these functions.
I don?t believe that ether Chester Barnard?s nor Henri Fayol?s ways of managements are impractical for today?s business environment. They both fit in almost perfectly to almost any company in the United States and even the world.
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.
However, some influential management authors believe that the classical management functions need to be update. Williams (2005, p. 7) updated the management functions and came out with four functions: making things happen; meeting the competition; organizing people, projects and process; and leading. To make things happen, it is essential to determine goals, planning ways to attain the goals, gathering and managing needed information to make superior decisions and also controlling performance to enable corrective action to take place if performance worsens. This function actually combined Fayol’s idea of planning and controlling. The thought of determining things to accomplish and developing plans to achieve goals is similar to function of planning suggested by Fayol, which is to define goals, establish strategy and develop plans to implement the strategy in order to reach the goals. Besides, Williams mentioned about controlling performance and corrective action, which is corresponding to Fayol’s classical management functions of controlling. Controlling, according to Fayol, involves observing organization performance and take action if necessary to ensure that goals are to be achieved. Nevertheless, the action of gathering and managing needed information to enable good decisions to be made is not stated in classical management functions. Based on the updated functions, organizing people, projects and processes included consideration of people issues and work processes. At the same time, Fayol mentioned organizing, which is the management process of determining best way to arrange organization’s resources and activities. They actually have the same meaning where both are about locating organization’s resources, which are the employees and also the work processes or activities. The Learning Company, a company that develops and markets games and software, was purchased by toy company Mattel. It was experiencing loss after three years of the purchase because each department in the company works independently and do not share resources.
Over 50 years ago, English-speaking managers were directly introduced to Henry Fayol’s theory in management. His treatise, General and Industrial Management (1949), has had a great effect on managers and the practice of management around the world. However, 24 years after the English translation of Fayol, Henri Mintzberg in the Nature of Managerial Work (1973) developed another theory and stated that Fayol’s work was just “folklores”.
There are several theories that examine an organization and it’s approach to managing work in an effort to develop efficiency and increase production. Two classical approaches to management are Taylor’s scientific management theory and Weber's bureaucratic management theory. Both men are considered pioneers of in the study of management.
Through the interview, it is proven that Fayol’s four functions; Mintzberg’s managerial roles and Katz’s idea of management skills are essential to be part of the manager consideration when making a decision because these theories are able to assist in organisation’s progress. Tracy (2014), suggested “The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance” and this could be reflected in Manager X as he has proven that organisation performance is top priority for him. To make a conclusion on this topic of discussion, a manager duty is to function as a leader of an organisation, a negotiator with the clients, a motivator to the team and the coordinator of the whole organisation’s progress.
There are three well-established theories of classical management: Taylor?s Theory of Scientific Management, Fayol?s Administrative Theory, Weber?s Theory of Bureaucracy. Although these schools, or theories, developed historical sequence, later ideas have not replaced earlier ones. Instead, each new school has tended to complement or coexist with previous ones.
Management plays a significant role in how business operates. The diversity of approaches to the theoretical and practical background of management has come up with several versions of what is meant by such key words as management and organization. The academia views expressed in relation to management theories take a different role than that prescribed to managers. There has not been any concrete definition of management even though the classic definition of Henri fayol still remains in contention to be the preferred choice after eighty years. In the context of what is required I would like to elaborate on the following journals.