Henri Fayol: biography of the father of the Positive Administration

Who was Henri Fayol (1841-1925)? He is a very relevant author in the field of business administration; An 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 do a brief review of his life through a biography of Henri Fayol.

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Summary Biography of Henri Fayol

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was an engineer and business administration theorist, who was born on July 29 of 1841 in Constantinople (Istanbul), and that he died on November 19, 1925 in Paris, at the age of 84 years.

Fayol is considered one of the main contributors to the classic approach to management, because he developed the so-called classical theory of management, which we will see later.

This researcher was born on July 29, 1841 in Constantinople, Istanbul, into a bourgeois family. The Industrial Revolution had ended just a year ago (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 started working as a mining engineer, specifically at the Commentry Fourchambault Stock Company, a large group from the mining and metallurgical sector. It was in this company that he spent his entire life working.

Little by little, Fayol was promoted 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 appointed general manager (CEO), and held that position for thirty years and until he retired, between 1888 and 1918. At that time, Henri Fayol left the company to his successor, under fairly favorable and stable conditions.

Contributions to the mining company

It is worth mentioning that the company went through difficult stages, especially during these years. However, during the years that Henri Fayol was a director of the company, his management was really good.

At that time, Fayol also dedicated himself to writing different articles related to the administration. In 1916, two years before he retired, the Société de l'Industrie Minérale bulletin published one of his works, entitled Administration Industrielle et Générale - Prévoyance organization, direction, coordination, contrôle.

A few years later, in 1949, this work ("Constance Soorrs General and Industrial Administration") was translated into English.

In 1978, on the occasion of the World's Fair, 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: alteration and spontaneous combustion of coal exposed to the air.

His work was very well received and from that moment on, Fayol began to stand out in the scientific field. Next, we will know the two great contributions of him: Fayolism and the classical theory of administration.

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Fayolism

Henri Fayol developed an administrative model that he called Fayolismo. Other synonyms that this model has received are: Positive Management, Administrative Process Approach or Anatomical Approach.

Through Fayolism, Henri Fayol analyzed problems not dealt with 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 did his research mostly in the factory or workshop setting; instead, Fayol investigated the addresses of the organizations. In addition, Fayol created “Schools of 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 its philosophy, and also its most relevant contributions in this field.

Definition and characteristics

We have briefly placed Fayolism in its context, but what exactly does it consist of? What are its main characteristics? Fayolism consists of an administrative model that is based on three essential aspects, What are they:

• The division of labor
• The application of a specific administrative process
• The formulation of the technical criteria that guide the administrative function

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 essential aspects listed of Fayolism, through this management model, Henri Fayol specifies a series of functions that any industrial company must take into account, and which are the following:

1. Technical functions

They are those that fulfill the function of provide certain goods and services.

2. Business functions

The commercial functions are those that have to do with efficient production and with the purchases and sales of the company.

3. Financial functions

Financial functions have to do with money management and obtaining the best return on it.

4. Security features

In this case, security functions fulfill the mission of protecting people and their property from potential theft or other altercations (for example a flood), within an organization.

5. Accounting functions

They are the functions that are related to inventories, balances, costs, statistics ...

6. Administrative functions

Finally, the administrative functions proposed by Henri Fayol in his Fayolism model, refer 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 swing at that time).

The Classical Theory of Administration

Through his Classical Theory, Henri Fayol he develops a series of ideas in the administrative context, focused on increasing the efficiency of the company.

These ideas go along the lines of optimizing the shape 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 classical theory, Fayol emphasizes the importance of the company's anatomy (that is, its structure) and its physiology (that is, its functioning).

So, Fayol attaches special importance to attending to 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 either the synthesis of these elements and their interrelationships, which end up generating a global vision of the company, which in turn allows a better subdivision of the same under the centralization of a boss principal.

Bibliographic references:

• Heames, J., Pryor, M.G. & Taneja, S. (2010). Henri Fayol, practitioner and theoretician – revered and reviled. Journal of Management History.
• Peaucelle, J.L. & Guthrie, C. (2012). The private life of Henri Fayol and his motivation to build a management science. Journal of Management History.
• Sasaki, T. (1995). Henri Fayol's family relationships. Journal of Management History.
• Taylor, F. W. (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. Harper & Brothers. p. 144.