Fayol’s Management Theory Is Still Relevant Today.
Introduction
Henri Fayol’s theory was almost a century old and was originally written in French. Further review on several journal articles has led to an overview background of Fayol’s working life which provided the foundation that conceptualized his theory. According to Wren (2001), Fayol was appointed as the Director in a mining company, Decazeville, where he succeeded to turnaround the company to become profitable. Fayol was the first person to classify the functions of a manager’s job. Fayol (1949; as cited in Wren, 2001) identified five key functions in managerial works.as planning, organising, command, coordination and control. Planning consists of any managerial work that involves setting goals and coordinating actions to attain the goals (Bartol, Tein, Matthews, Sharma & Scott-Ladd, 2011). Bergman, Stagg and Coulter (2009) defines organising as activities where managers manages and allocates resources to ensure that goals can be achieved. Command can be interpreted as leading function which involves the process of manager influencing others to work towards the goals (Bergman et al., 2011). All managers are also expected to control where regulation of actual work to conform with established goals (Newman, 1975 as cited in Bartol et al, 2011).
Many modern scholars like Hale, Kotter, Mintzberg have put forth their theories and debunked Fayol as out of the current context (Fell, 2000; Pryor & Taneja, 2010). This essay sets out to determine whether Fayol’s management theory is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published. Wren, Dedelan and Breeze (2002) ascertained that the interpretation of Fayol’s elements and principles of management to be flexible and relevant. This essay begins with the classification of today manager’s job based on Fayol’s functions which are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The importance of each function will also be highlighted and application examples from real-life companies will be used
Henri Fayol’s theory was almost a century old and was originally written in French. Further review on several journal articles has led to an overview background of Fayol’s working life which provided the foundation that conceptualized his theory. According to Wren (2001), Fayol was appointed as the Director in a mining company, Decazeville, where he succeeded to turnaround the company to become profitable. Fayol was the first person to classify the functions of a manager’s job. Fayol (1949; as cited in Wren, 2001) identified five key functions in managerial works.as planning, organising, command, coordination and control. Planning consists of any managerial work that involves setting goals and coordinating actions to attain the goals (Bartol, Tein, Matthews, Sharma & Scott-Ladd, 2011). Bergman, Stagg and Coulter (2009) defines organising as activities where managers manages and allocates resources to ensure that goals can be achieved. Command can be interpreted as leading function which involves the process of manager influencing others to work towards the goals (Bergman et al., 2011). All managers are also expected to control where regulation of actual work to conform with established goals (Newman, 1975 as cited in Bartol et al, 2011).
Many modern scholars like Hale, Kotter, Mintzberg have put forth their theories and debunked Fayol as out of the current context (Fell, 2000; Pryor & Taneja, 2010). This essay sets out to determine whether Fayol’s management theory is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published. Wren, Dedelan and Breeze (2002) ascertained that the interpretation of Fayol’s elements and principles of management to be flexible and relevant. This essay begins with the classification of today manager’s job based on Fayol’s functions which are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The importance of each function will also be highlighted and application examples from real-life companies will be used