This article is a brief review of the work of Henri Fayol, whose most important book is "Industrial and General Administration", fundamental text of business economics, focuses on the technique of business rationalization from a point of view that has been done world famous; the administrative doctrine known as fayolismo. Always focusing on the governance of the company. Henri Fayol Industrial and General Administration.
Henri Fayol General and Industrial Administration
Introduction:
Henri Fayol (1841 - 1925) was a Civil Engineer who dedicated his life to work at the Commentutry - Fourchambault et Decazeville Corporation where he became CEO in 1888, a position he held until he retired in 1918.
After Taylor's contributions, Fayol using a positivist philosophy, and using a Cartesian method consisting of observing and classifying the facts, interpreting them, carrying out experiences if appropriate and extracting rules, develops an administrative theory and an administrative model, very well received in his time.
Fayol's administrative model is based on three fundamental aspects: the division of labor, the application of an administrative process and the formulation of technical criteria that should guide the administrative function.
Fayol divides the operations of the companies into:
- Administrative or management: forecasting, command, organization, coordination and control. Production techniques: Manufacture, transformation of inputs. Commercials: Purchases, sales, search for markets. Financial: Search and administration of capital. Accounting: Records of income and expenses., inventories, balances, statistics, prices. Security: Protection of goods and people.
General principles of administration of fayol
For Fayol, the administrative function only has the social body as an organ and an instrument, while the other functions bring raw materials and machines into play, the administrative function only works on the personnel.
The administration principles most used by Fayol were:
- The division of labor: It is the natural order, The worker who manufactures the same piece every day and the boss who constantly deals with the same businesses, acquire a skill, security and precision that increase their performance. Every change of occupation or task implies an adaptation effort that decreases production. Authority: Consists of the right to command and the power to be obeyed. A legal authority inherent to the function is distinguished in a chief and the personal authority formed of intelligence, knowledge, experience, moral value, aptitude for command, etc. Discipline: It consists essentially of obedience, activity, presence and external signs of respect carried out in accordance with the conventions established between the company and its agents. For Fayol, this concept is expressed in the military world and the concept of agreement must be taken into account to reach harmony in the organization and full compliance with the rules. The unit of command: For the execution of any act, an agent must only receive orders from a boss. Fayol says: "That is the rule of" unity of command ", which is general need permanent and whose influence on the course of business is at least equal, in my opinion to that of any other principle…" The steering unit: This principle can be expressed like this: A single boss and a single program for a set of operations that tend to the same end. The subordination of private interests to the general interest: This principle reminds us that in a company the interest of an agent or a group of agents should not prevail over the interest of the company.
Two interests of different order, but equally respectable can be resolved under conciliation:
The means to carry it out are:
- Firmness and good example from bosses. Agreements as equitable as possible. Attentive vigilance
- Remuneration: Constitutes the price of the service provided. It must be equitable and in everything possible, give satisfaction to both the staff and the company, the employer and the employee…
Employees can be paid by the day, by task or by piece…
- Centralization: Like the "division of labor", centralization is a fact of natural order, it consists in that in every organism, animal or social, the sensations converge towards the brain or the direction and that from this or that, the orders that set all parts of the body in motion. The hierarchy: It is made up of a series of bosses that goes from the higher authority to the lower agents. The hierarchical path is the path followed, going through all the levels of the hierarchy, the communications that come from the superior authority to the inferior ones. The order: A place for everything and a thing for each place… Equity: For Fayol, justice is the realization of the acquired agreements; Longing for equality and fairness are aspirations that must be taken into account in dealing with staff. Staff stability: It takes time for an agent to get started in a new role and to perform well, admitting that he or she has the necessary skills. If the agent is displaced when he has just finished his learning stage, he will not have had time to do an appreciable job. The initiative: One of the most vivid satisfactions that intelligent man can experience, is to devise a plan and ensure its success, it is also one of the most powerful stimulants of human activity. The union of the staff: The union is strength…
Fayol, by introducing a hierarchical scheme and delving into the issue of the division of labor, makes a fundamental contribution to the development of modern administration.
Bibliography
- Carlos Eduardo Martínez Fajardo; Organization Administration Productivity and Efficiency, Second Edition National University of Colombia, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Department of Business Management. Ed Unibiblos.Henri Fayol - Industrial and General Administration
