Henri Fayol: Biography Of The Father Of Positive Administration
Who was Henri Fayol (1841-1925)? He is a very relevant author in the field of business administration; engineer and theorist of this sector, born in Istanbul, Fayol developed an administrative model called Fayolism, in addition to the Classical Theory of Administration.
In this article, in addition to commenting on his most relevant theoretical contributions, we will a brief review of his life through a biography by Henri Fayol
Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was an engineer and business administration theorist, who was born on July 29, 1841 in Constantinople (Istanbul), and who died on November 19, 1925 in Paris, at the age of 84. .
Fayol is considered one of the main contributors to the classical approach to management because he developed the so-called classical theory of administration, which we will see later.
This researcher was born on July 29, 1841 in Constantinople, Istanbul, into a bourgeois family. Just a year ago the Industrial Revolution had ended (1840), so both Fayol and his family experienced the consequences derived from it.
Regarding his academic life, Henri Fayol graduated as a civil mining engineer in 1860, when he was only 19 years old. Soon He began working as a mining engineer, specifically at the Commentry Fourchambault Joint Stock Company, a large group in the mining and metallurgical sector. This company was where he stayed his entire life working.
Little by little, Fayol rose within the same company. When he was 25 years old, He was appointed manager of the mines Twenty-two years later, at 47, Fayol was named general manager (chief executive officer), and held that position for thirty years until he retired, between 1888 and 1918. At that time, Henri Fayol left the company to his successor, in quite favorable and stable conditions.
It is worth mentioning that the company went through difficult stages, especially during these years. However, during the years that Henri Fayol was director of the company, his management was really good.
At that time, Fayol also dedicated himself to writing different articles related to administration In 1916, two years before he retired, the bulletin of the Société de l’Industrie Minérale brought to light one of his works, entitled Administration Industrielle et Générale – Prévoyance organisation, direction, coordination, control.
A few years later, in 1949, this work (“General and Industrial Administration by Constance Soorrs”) was translated into English.
In 1978, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition, The Congress of the Mining Industrial Society was held in Paris At that event, Henri Fayol presented one of his works, through a report that dealt with the following topic: the alteration and spontaneous combustion of coal exposed to the air.
His work was very well received and from that moment, Fayol began to stand out in the scientific field. Next, we will learn about his two great contributions: Fayolism and the classical theory of administration.
Fayolism
Henri Fayol developed an administrative model that he called Fayolism. Other synonyms that this model has received are: Positive Administration, Administrative Process Approach or Anatomical Approach
Through Fayolism, Henri Fayol analyzed problems not addressed by Frederick Taylor, then considered the father of Scientific Administration. In his case, Taylor had developed Taylorism, a method of industrial organization based on dividing tasks in the production process, within the organization of work.
Taylor investigated mainly in the factory or workshop environment; On the other hand, Fayol investigated the addresses of the organizations In addition, Fayol created “Schools for bosses”, and contributed great ideas related to the different administrative levels that we find within an organization.
In his work “Administration industrielle et générale” we can find the ideas of Fayolism, through his philosophy, and also his most relevant contributions in this area.
Definition and characteristics
We have briefly placed Fayolism in its context, but what does it consist of, exactly? What are its main characteristics? Fayolism consists of an administrative model that is based on three essential aspects What are they:
As we will see below, Fayolism describes various functions within an organization, where The administrative function is the most important In fact, this function refers to the social part of the company (that is, its workers), while the others have to do with raw materials and machinery. What does each of these functions consist of? Let’s find out:
Functions in the organization
As we said, beyond the three listed essential aspects of Fayolism, through this management model, Henri Fayol specifies a series of functions that any industrial company must take into account, and they are the following:
1. Technical functions
They are those that fulfill the function of provide certain goods and services
2. Business functions
Commercial functions are those that have to do with efficient production and the company’s purchases and sales.
3. Financial functions
Financial functions have to do with managing money and obtaining the highest return from it.
In this case, security functions fulfill the mission of protecting people and their property from possible theft or other altercations (for example a flood), within an organization.
5. Accounting functions
These are the functions that are related to inventories balances, costs, statistics…
6. Administrative functions
Finally, the administrative functions proposed by Henri Fayol in his model of Fayolism allude to the coordination and synchronization of the other five functions, already explained.
In reality, administrative functions are, for Fayol, his main object of study (still in full development at that time).
The Classical Theory of administration
Through his Classical Theory, Henri Fayol develops a series of ideas in the administrative context, focused on increasing the efficiency of the company
These ideas are in line with optimizing the form and arrangement of the bodies that make up the organization in question (that is, its departments), as well as their structural interrelationships. Along these lines, in his classic theory, Fayol emphasizes the importance of the anatomy of the company (that is, its structure) and its physiology (that is, its functioning).
So, Fayol gives special importance to addressing the structure of the organization (it is the fundamental characteristic of classical theory); that is, its elements, principles, departments, etc.
However, Fayol does not neglect the synthesis of these elements and their interrelationships, which end up generating a global vision of the company, which in turn allows for a better subdivision of it under the centralization of a main boss.
