Henri Fayol

For French singer, see Lily Fayol.

Henri Fayol

Henri Fayol (Istanbul, 29 July 1841 – Paris, 19 November 1925) was a French mining engineer ES DIRECTOR of mines who developed a general theory of business administration that is often called Fayolism. He and his colleagues developed this theory independently of scientific management but roughly contemporaneously. Like his contemporary, Frederick Winslow Taylor, he is widely acknowledged as a founder of modern management methods.

Fayol was born in 1841 in a suburb of Istanbul, Ottoman Empire. His father (an engineer) was appointed superintendent of works to build the Galata Bridge, which bridged the Golden Horn. The family returned to France in 1847, where Fayol graduated from the mining academy "École Nationale Supérieure des Mines" in Saint-Étienne in 1860.

The nineteen-year old engineer started at the mining company "Compagnie de Commentry-Fourchambault-Decazeville" in Commentry. By 1900 the company was one of the largest producers of iron and steel in France and was regarded as a vital industry. Fayol became managing director in 1888, when the mine company employed over 10,000 people, and held that position over 30 years until 1918.

Based largely on his own management experience, he developed his concept of administration. In 1916 he published these experience in the book "Administration Industrielle et Générale", at about the same time as Frederick Winslow Taylor published his Principles of Scientific Management

Work

Fayol's work became more generally known with the 1949 publication of General and industrial administration, the English translation of the 1916 article "Administration industrielle et générale". In this work Fayol presented his theory of management, known as Fayolism. Before that Fayol had written several articles on mining engineering, starting in the 1870s, and some preliminary papers on administration.

Mining engineering

Starting in the 1870s Fayol wrote a series of articles on mining subjects, such as on the spontaneous heating of coal (1879), the formation of coal beds (1887), the sedimentation of the Commentry, and on plant fossils (1890),

His first articles were published in the French Bulletin de la Société de l'Industrie minérale, and beginning in the early 1880s in the Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, the proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences.

Fayolism

Main article: Fayolism

Fayol's work was one of the first comprehensive statements of a general theory of management. He proposed that there were six primary functions of management and 14 principles of management

Functions of management

1. To forecast and plan
2. To organize
3. To command or direct
4. To coordinate

To control (French: contrôler: in the sense that a manager must receive feedback about a process in order to make necessary adjustments and must analyse the deviations) which lately scholars of management combined Directing and Coordinating into Leading function.

Principles of management

1. Division of work or separation of work or specialization of labour. Work should be divided among individuals and groups to ensure that effort and attention are focused on special portions of the task. Fayol presented work specialization as the best way to use the human resources of the organization.
2. Authority. Managers must be able to give orders. Authority gives them this right. Note that responsibility arises wherever authority is exercised.There must be balance between authority and responsibility.
3. Discipline. Employees must obey and respect the rules that govern the organization. Good discipline is the result of effective leadership, a clear understanding between management and workers regarding the organization's rules, and the judicious use of penalties for infractions of the rules.
4. Unity of command. Every employee should receive orders from only one superior.
5. Unity of direction. Each group of organizational activities that have the same objective should be directed by one manager using one plan.All the efforts of the employees must be directed in one way in achievement of one common goal.
6. Subordination of individual interests to the general interest. The interests of any one employee or group of employees should not take precedence over the interests of the organization as a whole.
7. Remuneration. Workers must be paid a fair wage for their services.
8. Centralization. Centralization refers to the degree to which subordinates are involved in decision making. Whether decision making is centralized (to management) or decentralized (to subordinates) is a question of proper proportion. The task is to find the optimum degree of centralization for each situation.if the size of organisation is large it is better to have decentralization.

1. Scalar chain. The line of authority from top management to the lowest ranks represents the scalar chain. Communications should follow this chain. However, if following the chain creates delays, cross-communications can be allowed if agreed to by all parties and superiors are kept informed.
2. Order. this principle is concerned with systematic arrangement of men, machine, material etc. there should be specific place for every employee in organization
3. Equity. Managers should be kind and fair to their subordinates.
4. Stability of tenure of personnel. High employee turnover is inefficient. Management should provide orderly personnel planning and ensure that replacements are available to fill vacancies.
5. Initiative. Employees who are allowed to originate and carry out plans will exert high levels of effort.
6. Esprit de corps. Promoting team spirit will build harmony and unity within the organization.

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 Richard Daft's have reduced the six functions to five: (1) planning; (2) organizing; (3) leading; (4) controlling (5) forecasting. Daft's text is organized around Fayol's four functions.

Publications

Books, translated

• 1930. Industrial and General Administration. Translated by J.A. Coubrough, London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons.
• 1949. General and Industrial Management. Translated by C. Storrs, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London.

Articles, translated, a selection

• 1900. "Henri Fayol addressed his colleagues in the mineral industry 23 June 1900." Translated by J.A. Coubrough. In: Fayol (1930) Industrial and General Administration. pp. 79–81 (republished in: Wren, Bedeian & Breeze, (2002) "The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory")
• 1909. "L’exposee des principles generaux d’administration". Translated by J.D Breeze. published in: Daniel A. Wren, Arthur G. Bedeian, John D. Breeze, (2002) "The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory", Management Decision, Vol. 40 Iss: 9, pp. 906 – 918
• 1923. "The administrative theory in the state". Translated by S. Greer. In: Gulick, L. and Urwick. L. Eds. (1937) Papers on the Science of Administration, Institute of Public Administration. New York. pp. 99–114

External links

• Fiche de lecture d'Administration industrielle et générale, Claude Remila, Cours d’organisation et systèmes d’information. (in French)