1. Introduction
For Fayol the lack of an administrative teaching is due to the "lack of doctrine": there is no consecrated administrative doctrine, arising from public discussion, there are only personal doctrines that recommend the most contradictory practices, although sometimes they are "located under the aegis of the same principle »; «Need and possibility of administrative education»: part devoted to the enumeration of company activities;
Administrative principles and elements
Fayol tries to obtain a list of "all the operations that companies give rise to" and classifies their activities:
- Technical activities: production, transformation, manufacturing, Commercial activities: purchases, sales, exchanges, Financial activities: raising and administration of capital, Security activities: protection of people's assets, Accounting activities: inventories, balances, costs, etc, Administrative activities: forecasting, organization, command, coordination, control.
Administrative activities are present everywhere, and their weight is increasing as you move up the hierarchy.
For the organization's activities to be carried out, the 14 administrative principles must be applied to them:
- Authority and responsibility Discipline Unit of command Direction unit Subordination of individual interest to general interest Degree of decentralization Hierarchy Order Equity Stability of staff Initiative Union of staff
Fayol decomposes into 5 groups of operations
Forecast
It allows to calculate the future and prepare it through an action program. A program must meet the following conditions:
- Unit Continuity Flexibility Accuracy
Fayol requested that the government establish an economic program in France.
Organization
Establish a structure for the social body with a command unit, a definition of responsibilities, with established decision procedures, and training of leaders,
I send
The chief corresponds:
- Have knowledge of its staff, Eliminate the incapacitated, Know the agreements that govern between the company and its agents., Give a good example, Inspect the social body, Hold meetings with your collaborators, Do not be absorbed by the details, Make them reign the activity, initiative and dedication.
Coordination
"Harmonize the actions of a company". Fayol sees 2 means of coordination:
- the weekly meeting of the heads of service liaison officers when it is impossible to hold a weekly meeting.
Control
To verify if everything is in accordance with the program, with the orders and the principles.
2. Need and possibility of administrative education
Management definition
The set of operations carried out by companies can be divided into 6 groups:
- Technical operations, commercial operations, financial operations, security operations, accounting operations, administrative operations.
These 6 functions exist in every company.
Technical function
Technical function is not always the most important of all.
The 6 essential functions are in close dependence on each other.
Commercial function
The prosperity of an industrial company depends on the commercial function and the technical function; if the product does not circulate, ruin occurs.
Knowing how to buy and sell is as important as knowing how to manufacture well.
Commercial ability, combined with cunning and decision, implies a deep knowledge of the market and the strength of the competitors.
When some products pass in the same company from one service to another, the commercial function monitors so that the prices set by the higher authority (order prices) are not the source of dangerous illusions.
Financial function
Nothing is done without your intervention. Capital is needed for the payment of salaries to personnel, for the acquisition of real estate, supplies and raw materials, etc. Skillful financial management is essential to procure capital, to get the most out of availabilities, to avoid reckless commitments.
No reform is possible without availability or without credit.
It is an essential condition of success to have in view the financial situation of the company.
Safety function
It has the mission of protecting assets and people against accidents and all the obstacles of a social nature that can compromise the progress and even the life of the company.
It is any measure that gives the company the security and personnel the peace of mind that it so badly needs.
Accounting function
It constitutes the order of sight in companies. You must know where you are and where you are going. You must give exact, clear and precise reports on the economic situation of the company.
Good accounting, which gives an exact idea of the conditions of the company, is a powerful means of management.
Administrative function
Forecasting, organization, coordination and control are part of the administration.
- Recruitment, staff training and the establishment of the social body, which are functions in charge of the administration, have an intimate relationship with the command. Most of the principles of command are principles of administration. Administration and command have a close relationship with each other. It has the advantage of giving rise to the technical function.
To manage is to anticipate, organize, command, coordinate and control. To foresee is to scrutinize the future and draw up the action program. To organize is to constitute the double organism, material and social, of the company. To command is to direct the personnel. Coordinate is to link, unite and harmonize all acts and all efforts. To control is to watch so that everything happens according to the established rules and the orders given. Administration is distinguished from the other 5 essential functions.
To govern is to lead the company towards the proposed end, trying to get the most out of all the resources available to it; is to ensure the running of the 6 essential functions.
3. Relative importance of the various capacities that make up the value of company personnel
Each group of operations has a special capacity.
Each of these capacities rests on a set of qualities and knowledge:
- Physical qualities: health, vigor, dexterity. Intellectual qualities: aptitude to understand and learn, intellectual judgment, vigor and agility. Moral qualities: energy, firmness, courage to accept responsibilities, initiative, self-denial, tact, dignity. General culture: notions diverse that are not exclusively the domain of the function performed. Special knowledge: they concern the function. Experience: knowledge resulting from the practice of business. It is the memory of the lessons that one has extracted from the facts.
Such is the set of qualities and knowledge that make up any of the essential capacities; This set includes physical, intellectual and moral qualities, general culture, experience and certain special knowledge regarding the role to be performed.
The importance of each of the elements that make up the capacity is related to the nature and importance of the function.
4. Principles and elements of administration
General Principles of Administration
The administrative function only has an organ and an instrument for the social body. The administrative function only works on the personnel.
The health and proper functioning of the social body depend on conditions, which are called principles, laws or rules.
There is nothing rigid or absolute in administrative matters; it's all a matter of measure. The same principle can hardly ever be applied twice under identical conditions: it is necessary to take into account diverse and changing circumstances, equally diverse and changing men and other variable elements.
The principles are flexible and capable of adapting to all needs. The question is how to use them.
Measurement, made of tact and experience, is one of the administrator's main qualities.
The number of administration principles is not limited. A change in the state of things can determine the change in the rules to which that state had given birth.
Division of labour
The work div is of a natural order: it is observed in the animal world; it is noted in human societies, the more complex the social body, the greater and closer the relationship between function and organ. As society grows, new organs appear to replace the single organ primitively in charge of all functions.
The job div is intended to produce more and better with the same effort.
The worker who makes the same part every day and the boss who runs 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.
The division of labor reduces the number of objects on which attention and effort must be applied. It is the best way to get the most out of individuals and communities. It applies to all workers who move people and who demand various kinds of skills from them. It tends towards the specialization of functions and the separation of powers.
The division of labor has limits that experience and the sense of measurement teach not to cross.
Authority - Responsibility
Authority consists of the right to command and the power to be obeyed. A chief is distinguished by the personal authority formed by intelligence, knowledge, experience, moral value, aptitude for command, etc. In a good boss, personal authority is the indispensable complement to legal authority.
Authority is not conceived without responsibility. Responsibility is a corollary of authority, its natural consequence, its indispensable counterweight. Where authority is exercised, responsibility is born.
The need for sanction, which has its source in the feeling of justice, is confirmed and increased by the consideration that, for the benefit of the general interest, it is necessary to encourage useful actions and prevent those that do not have this character.
The sanction of acts of authority is part of the essential conditions of good administration. This sanction is difficult to apply, it is necessary to establish the degree of responsibility and then the amount of the sanction.
The sanction is a matter of conventional use, and that the judge, when establishing it, must take into account the act itself, the circumstances surrounding it and the repercussion that the sanction may have. Judgment demands high moral value, impartiality and firmness. If all these conditions are not met, it is to be feared that the feeling of responsibility disappears from the company.
Responsibility is a source of respect. Responsibility is as feared as authority is coveted. The fear of responsibilities paralyzes initiatives and destroys good qualities.
A good boss must have and expand the courage of responsibilities around him.
Discipline
The discipline consists of obedience, diligence, activity, presence and external signs of respect made in accordance with the conventions established between the company and its agents.
The discipline is presented with the most different aspects. Obligations of obedience, diligence, activity and presence differ, from one company to another, from one category of agents to another in the same company, from one region to another and from one era to another.
The public spirit is convinced that discipline is necessary to the proper conduct of business and that no company could prosper without it.
When a failure in the discipline is manifested or when the understanding between the bosses and subordinates leaves to be desired, one should not limit oneself to taking responsibility for this situation over the poor state of the personnel; evil is a consequence of the incapacity of the bosses.
The agreements must be clear and satisfy both parties. Such a thing is difficult.
The establishment of agreements between the company and its agents must continue to be one of the main concerns of company managers.
The interest of the company requires that certain sanctions be applied against acts of indiscipline that are capable of preventing or reducing their repetition. The experience and tact of the boss are tested in the choice and the degree of the sanctions applied. In its appearance it is necessary to take into account the individuals and the environment.
Discipline is respect for covenants that have as their object obedience, diligence, activity and the external signs with which respect is manifested. She is imposed on the highest bosses as well as the most modest agents.
The most effective means of establishing and maintaining discipline are:
- Good bosses at all hierarchical levels. Clear and equitable agreements. Judicially applied penal sanctions.
Control unit
For the execution of any act an agte must only receive orders from a boss.
The rule of "unity of command" is of a general and permanent necessity and whose influence on the course of business is at least equal to that of any other principle.
From the moment that 2 bosses exercise their authority over the same man, they feel discomfort; if the cause persists, confusion increases, the disease appears the same as in an animal organism disturbed by a foreign body, and the following consequences are observed:
The duality ceases due to the disappearance or cancellation of one of the bosses and social health is reborn; Or the organism continues to weaken.
In no case does the social organism adapt to the duality of command.
The duality of command is frequent.
- In the hope of being better understood, to conjure up a dangerous maneuver, Chief 2 imparts his orders to an Agent C without going through Chief 1. The desire to avoid the immediate difficulty represented by the distribution of powers between 2 partners, sometimes that the duality of command reigns from the beginning at the top of the companies. Possessing identical powers, having equal authority over the same men, the 2 partners reach duality and its consequences. Men do not bear the duality of command. An imperfect delimitation of services leads to duality of command: 2 bosses, issuing orders in a sphere of influence that each one believes belongs to them, give rise to duality. The continuous relations between the various services,the natural interlocking of functions and often imprecise attributions create a constant danger of duality. If a shrewd boss does not put things in order there are usurpations of functions that hinder and compromise the running of business. The duality of command is a perpetual source of conflict.
Steering unit
A single boss and a single program for a set of operations that serve the same purpose. The unity of leadership is created by a good constitution of the social body; the control unit depends on the operation of the personnel.
The control unit cannot exist without, but is not derived from, the steering unit.
Subordination of private interest to general interest
In a company, the interest of a company should not prevail against the interest of the company.
2 interests of diverse order, but equally respectable, are opposed; it is necessary to find a way to reconcile them.
The means of carrying out this reconciliation are:
- The firmness and good example of the bosses. Equitable agreements. Attentive vigilance.
Staff remuneration
Staff remuneration constitutes the price of the service provided. It must be equitable and, at the same time, satisfy the staff and the company, the employer and the employee.
The remuneration rate depends on circumstances independent of the will of the employer and the value of the agents.
The mode of remuneration of personnel can have an influence on the course of business; your choice is a major problem.
The payment mode looks for the following:
- That ensures equitable remuneration. That stimulates zeal, rewarding useful effort. That cannot lead to excess remuneration.
Workers
- Payment per day; Payment per task; Payment per piece.
These 3 modes of remuneration can be combined with each other and lead to variations by introducing bonuses, profit sharing, honorable mentions, etc.
Pay per day
The worker sells to the boss a day of work. This system has the drawback that it leads to laziness and requires careful vigilance. It is imposed when it is not possible to measure the work done.
Pay per task
The salary depends on the execution of a certain task set in advance. That salary can be independent of the duration of the task. Daily task pay does not require as close monitoring as daily pay. It has the disadvantage of reducing the performance of good workers to the level of mediocre.
Pay per piece
The salary is unlimited, it is in relation to the work done. It is used in workshops where a large number of equal parts are manufactured. It tends to quantity to the detriment of quality and causes conflicts when it is intended to review prices to take into account the processes carried out in manufacturing. Piece-rate pay increases the company's work when applied to a significant set of tasks. To reduce the risk of employers, the price of the piece is sometimes added a supplement calculated on c / working day. This system produces an improvement in wages that stimulates zeal for a certain time.
Cousins
To interest the worker in the good running of the company, a supplement is sometimes added to the daily wage, task or piece rate. The relative importance of these premiums, their nature and the conditions stipulated for their obtaining are varied. There are the profit shares.
Profit sharing
Workers. The idea of involving workers in profits is very seductive. It leads one to believe that the conciliation between capital and labor must emerge from its application. It cannot be applied in non-profit companies. The worker needs an immediate salary, whether or not the company has benefits. A system that makes the remuneration of the worker depend on an eventual and future benefit is inapplicable.
Medium bosses. They do not need a pecuniary stimulant to fully perform their function, but they are not indifferent to material satisfactions, and the hope of further benefit may be admitted to excite their zeal.
The problem is easy in new or financially struggling businesses, where an effort can pay off. The participation can be applied on the set of the benefits of the company, or on the movement of the service in charge of the interested party. When the company is old and conveniently run, the zeal of a middle boss is inconspicuous in overall results and it is difficult to establish useful participation. Senior bosses. The head of the company has a considerable influence on the general results and it is natural that he tries to interest him in them. It is possible to establish a close relationship between your personal action and the results; however, there are other influences, independent of the boss's value,they can vary the general results in proportions greater than the personal action of the former. The boss's remuneration could be reduced to zero if it depended on benefits. Senior heads of state cannot be remunerated through profit-sharing. Profit sharing is not a general rule of remuneration. Profit sharing is a means of remuneration that can give excellent results in certain cases, but it is not a general solution to the problem.Profit sharing is a means of remuneration that can give excellent results in certain cases, but it is not a general solution to the problem.Profit sharing is a means of remuneration that can give excellent results in certain cases, but it is not a general solution to the problem.
Subsidies in kind - Welfare institutions - Honorary satisfaction
It does not matter that the salary is made up of money, or that it includes various accessories, such as: heating, food, as long as the agent is satisfied. There is no doubt that the company will be better served the more vigorous, educated, conscious and stable its agents are. The employer must take care of the health, strength, training, morality and stability of its personnel, even if it were not in the interest of the business itself. These elements that contribute to the good running of a business are not only acquired in the workshop; they are formed and perfected outside it: in the family, at school, in civil and religious life. The employer is obliged to deal with his agents outside the factory. The employer's action can be exercised outside the workshop as long as it is discreet and prudent, that is desired rather than imposed,that is in relation to the culture and the tastes of the interested parties and that respects their freedom. It must be a benevolent collaboration. The wellness work that the skipper can do is varied.
All means of remuneration that can enhance the value of staff life and stimulate the zeal of officers of all categories must be the subject of continued attention by managers.
Centralization
Centralization is a fact of the natural order; it consists in that in any organism, the sensations converge towards the brain or the direction and in that from this or that the orders start that set in motion all the parts of the organism.
Centralization is not a good or bad management system per se. The question of centralization or decentralization is a question of measurement. It is about finding the limit favorable to the company.
In small businesses, in which the boss's orders go directly to the lower agents, centralization is absolute. In large companies, where the boss is separated from the inferior agents, the orders go through a series of obligatory intermediaries. Each agent puts a little of himself into the transmission and execution of orders as in the transmission of impressions received. The degree of centralization should vary according to the circumstances.
The best possible use of the faculties of all personnel should be sought. The measure of centralization or decentralization can be variable, since the absolute and relative value of the boss and the agents are subject to continuous transformation.
That problem does not exist only for the top boss, but for the bosses of all categories. There is none of them that can expand or restrict the initiative of their subordinates.
Hierarchy
The hierarchy is made up of the series of chiefs that goes from the superior authority to the inferior agents. The hierarchical path is the path they follow, the communications that come from the highest authority or those that are directed to it. This path is imposed by the need for secure transmission and by unity of command. But it is not always faster.
There are many operations whose success depends on rapid execution; it is necessary to reconcile respect for the hierarchical path with the obligation to act quickly.
In the small company it is easy to forget the general interest, that of the company itself, but the boss is there to remind those who will try to forget it.
In the State the general interest is a complex thing, it is not easy to form from it a precise idea; and the employer is a kind of myth for almost all officials. If it is not incessantly rekindled by the higher authority, the feeling of the general interest fades, and the service tends to regard itself as having in itself its purpose and its end.
The use of the direct path is simple, fast and safe; allows agents to deal in a single interview, an issue that following the hierarchical route will require 20 times the transmission of the same matter to the different agents that make up the hierarchical scale.
It is a failure to depart from the hierarchical path without nec; it is a much greater fault to follow this route when it results in damage to the company. This last situation can become serious in certain circumstances.
Order
The formula of the material order is known: A place for each thing and each thing in its place.
Material order
For the material order to reign, it is necessary that you have reserved a place for each object and that each object is in the place assigned to it. The order must avoid material and time losses. For this purpose to be achieved it is necessary that things are in place, and that the place has been chosen in order to facilitate all operations. If this condition is not met, the order is only apparent. The apparent order can cover a real disorder. It could happen that an apparent disorder corresponds to a real order. The perfect order implies a judiciously chosen place; the apparent order is but a false or imperfect image of the real order. Cleanliness is a corollary of order.
Social order
In order for a company to rule the social order, it is essential that a place has been reserved for each agent and that each agent is in the place assigned to him. The perfect order requires that the place suits the agent and that the agent suits the position. The social order involves solving the 2 most difficult administrative operations: good organization and good recruitment. Once the necessary positions for the running of the company have been determined and the people who will carry them out have been selected, each of them will occupy the position where they can render the maximum number of services. Such is the perfect social order. The social order requires an exact knowledge of the needs and social resources of the company and a constant balance between these needs and these resources. This balance is very difficult to establish and maintain,and it is more difficult when the company is bigger. In private businesses and small-scale companies, it is easier to arrange recruitment according to need.
Equity
Why do we speak of equity and not of justice? Justice is the realization of the established covenants. But covenants cannot foresee everything; it is necessary to interpret them or make up for their insufficiency.
In order for staff to be encouraged to use all the goodwill and sacrifice they are capable of performing in their duties, they must be treated with benevolence; equity is the result of combining benevolence with justice. Equity does not exclude energy or rigor. Longing for equity and equality 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 the apprenticeship period has just ended, he will not have had time to perform an appreciable job. And if the same situation is repeated, the function will not be performed to satisfaction.
The dangerous consequences of this instability are terrible in large companies, in which the initiation period of the bosses is long. It takes a long time, to gain knowledge of men and things in a large company, to be in a position to formulate a program of action, to acquire self-confidence and to inspire confidence in others.
The managerial staff of prosperous companies is stable, that of companies bankrupt or experiencing difficulties is unstable: Instability is the cause and consequence of bad situations. Learning from a high-ranking boss is very expensive. Personnel changes are inevitable. The principle of stability is, a matter of measure.
Initiative
One of the most vivid satisfactions an intelligent man can experience is to devise a plan and ensure good success; it is one of the most powerful stimulants of human activity. This possibility of conceiving and executing is called initiative. The freedom to propose and to execute are component elements of the initiative.
At all levels of the social scale, the zeal and activity of the agents are increased by the initiative. Everyone's initiative is a great force for companies.
The staff union
Union make force. Efforts to establish them are essential.
The principle to be followed is unity of command; The dangers to avoid are: a) a misinterpretation of the currency "divide to rule"; b) abuse of written communications
to. There is no need to divide staff.
To divide enemy forces to weaken them is to show skill, but to divide your own is a serious offense against the company.
This lack is reprehensible because it is detrimental to the company.
b. Abuse of written communications.
To deal with a business matter or to give an order that must be completed through explanations, it is simpler and quicker to proceed verbally. It is known that conflicts or misunderstandings that could be solved in a conversation are festered by the use of correspondence.
Relationships must be verbal. Thus you gain speed, clarity and harmony. In some companies the service agents that could be found only communicate in writing. This causes an increase in work, complications and delays detrimental to the company.
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