Henri Fayol

(1841 - 1925)
 Henri Fayol’s Background

* Graduated from the National School of Mines in Saint

Etrenne in 1860
* After graduation he went to work and spent his entire
career at Commentry-Fourchamboult-Decazeville. He was
named managing director in 1888 and maintained that
position until he retired in 1918.
* He is credited with saving the company from bankruptcy
* During his career he lectured at Ecole Superievre de la
Guerre
* In his retirement he established the Center of
Administrative Studies
Fayol’s Big Contributions to Management

1) Universality of management: The same skills

are needed to manage a coal mine that are needed to
manage a hospital, post office, university, etc..

2) Management is a field in and of itself: There

were no schools of management prior to Henri Fayol!!!
Fayol’s Principles of Management

Division of Labor Fayol Encouraged job specialization

while realizing that too narrow a focus lead to boredom
and falling production

Authority & Responsibility This is more than

giving and having orders followed. Fayol thought that
authority should derive from expertise, leadership skill,
knowledge, etc., and lead to a sincere commitment from
subordinates
Fayol’s Principles of Management

Unity of Command Orders should be received from

only one person.

Line of Authority There should be a chain of

command from the very top to the very bottom of
the organization. Fayol realized that there should be
as few layers of management as possible
Fayol’s Principles of Management

Centralization Fayol preferred a less centralized

management hierarchy. He didn’t want decisions made
too far away from the problem

Unity of Direction Today we would call this

singleness of purpose

Initiative Employees should be able to act on their own

which spurs creativity and innovation
 Fayol’s Principles of Management

Equity employees should be treated fairly.

For personnel to be encouraged to carry out their

duties with all the devotion and loyalty of which they
are capable, they must be treated with respect for their
own sense of integrity, and equality results from the
combination of respect and justice

Order The arrangement of positions in the organization

should maximize efficiency and provide employees with career
opportunities
 Fayol’s Principles of Management

Discipline Managers need to enforce rules to

achieve company goals.

Remuneration of Personnel Fayol was an early supporter

of bonuses and profit sharing plans

Stability and tenure of employees Long-term

employees lead to better producing companies.
Fayol’s Principles of Management

Subordination of Individual Interests to the

common interest Employees need to understand
how their performance affects the entire organization

Esprit de Corp Managers should develop a shared

feeling of devotion to a common cause
Fayol’s Functions of Management

PLANNING

CONTROLLING ORGANIZING

LEADING
 Fayol’s Qualities of Effective
Plans
• UNITY At any one time • CONTINUITY Planning
an organization should have is an ongoing process and
only one guiding organizational previous plans should be
goal modified to fit together in the
corporate framework

• ACCURACY Managers • FLEXIBILITY A

should collect and utilize all manager should not be stuck
available information to make a with a static plan, but be able to
plan as accurate as possible change and alter as situations
do.
 Common criticisms of Henri Fayol

Management is not always universal: Fayol was criticized

because he only had experience in a coal mine. Many have
said just because you can manage a coal mine does not
necessarily mean you can manage a hospital.

His writing is lessons learned in his career: Everything that

Fayol wrote about was something from his career as the
managing director of a mining company. The criticism is that
his background was not all that diverse.
Common Criticism’s of Henri Fayol

Taylor’s argument: Taylor thought that specialization was

the best form of management. He thought that each worker
did eight different things and that for each thing there should
be a supervisor. Fayol thought that each person should only
have one supervisor. Further, Fayol liked having teams do
work together and making their own decisions rather than
having a specialist do every little thing.
Common Criticisms of Fayol

Modern Criticism: Fayol refused to purchase stock in his

own company because he felt it compromised his position
as the firm’s managing director. Today, managers are
expected to have their pay tied to stock because it is seen
as their job to increase shareholder wealth.
Fayol, also, wanted to board of director’s and shareholders
to have limited power because he felt they were
incompetent. This is criticized by those today who demand
shareholder rights be increased.