Henry Fayol and Business Administration

Management as defined by Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. (2012), involves coordinating and overseeing the work of others so that their activities are completed efficiently and effectively. Managers are universal; every business, big or small, needs managers of some sort. This is proved by all the different theories coined by people like Frederick Winslow Taylor, Henri Fayol, Max Weber and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth to name a few. Our focus will now only be on one of the theorists, Henri Fayol, who believed that focusing on increasing efficiency in businesses by minimizing misunderstandings. In the case of Company Y, Mrs X works as part of the middle level management of the company because she reports to the chief executive of the company. She is a contracts manager. She incorporates Fayol’s 14 principles of management in her line of work every day in order to help Company Y grow and achieve all the goals set by top level management. Her major duties include: drawing up contracts, evaluating, negotiating and executing them with her team; providing guidance to project managers on contract matters; ensuring that all contracts are well communicated to staff; and coordinating contractual insurance requirements with the finance or risk management department. Company Y is a packaging company who strives to be one of the best in South Africa. It has more than 100 employees and operates in the private sector.

Henri Fayol suggested that all managers use the 4 main functions (planning; organising; leading; and controlling) to efficiently coordinate and manage the work of others. By managers encouraging team members to work both effectively and efficiently can get the set goals achieved in no time. By providing incentives...

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...rmity has taken place and to show employees the way to go about the situation and still remain ethical at the end of the day because Company Y still needs to keep its reputation in good shape. Managers also need to ensure that the correct people are in the correct position at the right time to avoid wastage of time, energy and resources. When managers have to negotiate deals with clients need to be done in such a way that both parties are made well-off and that the partnership is worth keeping in the long run.

References

Bergman, R., Coulter, M., Robbins, S. & Stagg, I. (2012) Management (6th ed.). Sydney, Australia: Pearson Education

Business Dictionary. (2014). Definition retrieved April 2, 2014, from http://m.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizing.html

Insight. (2014). Retrieved April 2, 2014, from http://www.insight.com/us/en/why-insight/fast-facts.html