Management Theory Questions
CHAPTER 5: HENRI FAYOL
1) How convincing is Fayol’s claim that the activities of industrial undertakings can be divided into 6 groups?
According to Fayol the activities of industrial undertakings could plausibly be divided into six groups, regardless its size or the complexity. These groups of activities or essential functions are always present and they are: technical activities (production, manufacture, adaptation), commercial activities (buying, selling, exchange), financial activities (search for and optimum use of capital), security activities (protection of property and persons), accounting activities (stocktaking, balance sheet, costs, statistics) and managerial activities (planning, organization, command, coordination, control).
2) What were Fayol’s 14 principles of management?
Henri Fayol argued that there is no limit to the number of principles of management, but still he distinguished the following 14:
Division of work: to produce more and better work with the same effort.
Authority: the right to give orders and the power to exact obedience.
Discipline: in essence obedience, application, energy, behavior and outward marks of respect observed in accordance with standing agreements between the firm and its employees
Unity of command: an employee should receive orders from one superior only. Dual command was bound to generate tension, confusion and conflict.
Unity of direction: one head one plan for a group of activities having the same objective.
Subordination of individual interest to general interest: this idea calls to mind the fact that in a business the interest of one employee or group of employees should not prevail over that of the concern. One of the greatest problems of management was to reconcile the general interest with that of individual and group interests.
Remuneration of personnel: the price of services rendered.
Centralization: the question of centralization or decentralization, is a simple question of proportion, it is a
1) How convincing is Fayol’s claim that the activities of industrial undertakings can be divided into 6 groups?
According to Fayol the activities of industrial undertakings could plausibly be divided into six groups, regardless its size or the complexity. These groups of activities or essential functions are always present and they are: technical activities (production, manufacture, adaptation), commercial activities (buying, selling, exchange), financial activities (search for and optimum use of capital), security activities (protection of property and persons), accounting activities (stocktaking, balance sheet, costs, statistics) and managerial activities (planning, organization, command, coordination, control).
2) What were Fayol’s 14 principles of management?
Henri Fayol argued that there is no limit to the number of principles of management, but still he distinguished the following 14:
Division of work: to produce more and better work with the same effort.
Authority: the right to give orders and the power to exact obedience.
Discipline: in essence obedience, application, energy, behavior and outward marks of respect observed in accordance with standing agreements between the firm and its employees
Unity of command: an employee should receive orders from one superior only. Dual command was bound to generate tension, confusion and conflict.
Unity of direction: one head one plan for a group of activities having the same objective.
Subordination of individual interest to general interest: this idea calls to mind the fact that in a business the interest of one employee or group of employees should not prevail over that of the concern. One of the greatest problems of management was to reconcile the general interest with that of individual and group interests.
Remuneration of personnel: the price of services rendered.
Centralization: the question of centralization or decentralization, is a simple question of proportion, it is a