The Relevance of Henri Fayol's Four Management Functions
This essay serves to identify the similarities and dissimilarities of the work of two managers from two different organisations and the extent to which Henri Fayol’s management functions are relevant to their work.
Manager 1 works at a Woolworths Food retail store at a shopping centre called Featherbrooke Village in Ruimsig, Roodeport, Johannesburg, South Africa. Woolworths is a South African based retailer that specialises in clothing, food, home ware and beauty products and was founded by Max Sonnenburg in 1930. Today it has 400 stores across South Africa, Africa and the Middle East (Woolworths: About Us, 2013).
Manager 2 works at Mugg & Bean which is located at the same shopping centre as the Woolworths Food retail store mentioned above. Mugg & Bean is a franchise restaurant chain that was founded by Ben Filmalter, in 1996. It is known for its generosity and value for customers. Today it has restaurants across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (Mugg & Bean: About Us, 2013)
Henri Fayol came up with five management functions which are known today as the four management functions of planning, organising, leading and controlling, and suggested that managers’ work is made up of these functions(Robbins,S et al, 2012; Lamond, 2003). Is management really just made up of these four functions or is there more to it?
For Fayol, to manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control. To forsee and provide means examining the future and drawing up the plan of action. To organise means building up the dual structure, material and human, of the undertaking. To command means maintaining activity among the personnel. To co-ordinate means binding together, unifying and harmonising all activity and effort. To control means seeing that everything occurs in conformity with established rule and expressed command. (Lamond, 2003, p. 4)
Planning involves formulating a plan to achieve the goals of the
Manager 1 works at a Woolworths Food retail store at a shopping centre called Featherbrooke Village in Ruimsig, Roodeport, Johannesburg, South Africa. Woolworths is a South African based retailer that specialises in clothing, food, home ware and beauty products and was founded by Max Sonnenburg in 1930. Today it has 400 stores across South Africa, Africa and the Middle East (Woolworths: About Us, 2013).
Manager 2 works at Mugg & Bean which is located at the same shopping centre as the Woolworths Food retail store mentioned above. Mugg & Bean is a franchise restaurant chain that was founded by Ben Filmalter, in 1996. It is known for its generosity and value for customers. Today it has restaurants across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (Mugg & Bean: About Us, 2013)
Henri Fayol came up with five management functions which are known today as the four management functions of planning, organising, leading and controlling, and suggested that managers’ work is made up of these functions(Robbins,S et al, 2012; Lamond, 2003). Is management really just made up of these four functions or is there more to it?
For Fayol, to manage is to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to coordinate and to control. To forsee and provide means examining the future and drawing up the plan of action. To organise means building up the dual structure, material and human, of the undertaking. To command means maintaining activity among the personnel. To co-ordinate means binding together, unifying and harmonising all activity and effort. To control means seeing that everything occurs in conformity with established rule and expressed command. (Lamond, 2003, p. 4)
Planning involves formulating a plan to achieve the goals of the
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