The Emergence Of Administrative Theory
THE EMERGENCE OF
ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY
HENRI FAYOL.
Two contributors to the administrative theory of management are Henri Fayol (1841'' 1925) and Max Weber (1864'' 1920). Both wrote during the scientific management era in America, but neither was accorded the full measure of his contribution until some decades after his death.
Fayol was trained as a mining engineer and became the managing director of a coal-mining and iron foundry combine. From his own experience, he formulated and wrote papers about his ideas of administrative theory as early as 1900. His first mention of the "elements" of administration came in a book published in 1916. However, America was not thoroughly exposed to Fayol's theory until the book was translated in 1949 and entitled General and Industrial Management.
Fayol identified the major elements or functions of management as planning, organization, command, coordination, and control. Planning and organization received the majority of his attention in his writings. Fayol believed that management could be taught, that managerial ability was sorely needed as one moved up the ladder, and that management was a separate activity applicable to all types of undertakings.
Fayol's fourteen principles of management included: division of labor, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to the general interest, remuneration, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure of personnel, initiative, and espirit de corps (morale).
MAX WEBER.
The work of Max Weber (1864'' 1920) runs chronologically parallel to that of Fayol and Taylor. Weber was a German intellectual with interests in sociology, religion, economics, and political science. He was a professor, editor, government consultant, and author. Weber used the concept of "bureaucracy" as an ideal organizational arrangement for the administration of large-scale organizations. His work was not translated into English until...
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