Fayol Classical Theory

The term Management is defined through the synthesised functions of creating a corporate policy, organising, planning, controlling and directing an organisations resources in order to achieve the objectives of that organisation. Henri Fayol expressed the importance of key relationships between personnel and its management through his classical theory. Fayol’s theory outlines five functions of management; forecasting and planning, organising, commanding, co-ordinating and controlling. Fayol focuses on the role of senior managers unlike the ideas proposed by Taylor for example (another classical theorist), which emphasises rationality and lack of human aspects of organisations. This essay will critically discuss Fayols classical theory through

Taylor was highly qualified and experienced engineer with a considerable amount of management expertise under his belt. Taylor strongly believed that workers were motivated by money and promoted the ideal that if a worker didn’t achieve enough in a day then he didn’t deserve to be paid as much as opposed to a worker who did achieve enough. Taylor argued that productivity of workers would increase if they were given an enticement to increase their output. This explains Taylor’s belief that the principal objective for a manager should be to “secure the maximum prosperity for the employer and employee”. This differs from Fayol’s holistic view which saw the principles of management as a framework which required authority and worked from the managing director downwards whilst, Taylor’s view is best described as mechanistic working upwards from the bottom of the industrial hierarchy and formed on the ideals that “perfection of the whole is only achieved through perfection of the sum of its parts”. Fayol’s theory holds strength in seeing organisations as living organisms rather than mechanisms, it is clear to see that whilst Fayol worked to provide a worldwide theory for management, Taylor wanted to develop productivity. Although both theories are classical Taylor’s outlook is scientific and stresses efficiency whilst Fayol’s stance is administrative; Taylor’s approach is limited as it has a micro-approach and is restricted to a factory setting whereas Fayol’s theory adopts a macro-approach due to his general principles of management being appropriate for every field of management. Fayol also recognizes the need for human relations for example the principle of equity in contrast to Taylor’s disregard for human relations who instead pushes for the importance of improving