Administrative Theory developed by Henri Fayol

INTRODUCTION

            Administrative Theory developed by Henri Fayol (1841-1925. Henri Fayol‘s principles of management and research were published in the book ‘General and Industrial Management’ (1916). Management is the process of designing, developing and effecting organizational objectives and resources so as to achieve the predetermined organizational goals. The manager determine the goals of the organization, designs and develop the objectives and to determine the both human and material resource required for attainment of the goals (Okumbe,1998)

The ideas of Fyol’s administrative theory are relevant to school management and administration because of the following reasons

                Division of work, at school or any administration the employees are specialized in different areas and they have different skills. Different levels of expertise can be distinguished within the knowledge areas (from generalist to specialist). Personal and professional developments support this. According to Henri Fayol specialization promotes efficiency of the workforce and increases productivity. In addition, the specialization of the workforce increases their Saccuracy and speed. This is applicable to both technical and managerial activities in different school administration or administration (Rue, 2009)

               Authority and responsibility, in order to get things done in an organization, management has the authority to give orders to the employees. Of course with this authority comes responsibility. According to Henri Fayol  the accompanying power or authority gives the management the right to give orders to the subordinates. The responsibility can be traced back from performance and it is therefore is necessary to make agreements, this is relevant to contemporary school administration because the manager or head of school apply in order to control he institution easily (Landers, 1977)

            Discipline, this is about obedience is often a part of the core values of a mission and vision in the form of good conduct and respectful interactions. This is essential and is seen as the oil to make the engine of an organization run smoothly; hence this is applicable to our contemporary school or administration because any employee is required to be obedience in order to avoid misunderstanding among the workers (Scott, 1992)

                Unity of command, this means that an individual employee should receive orders from one manager or head of school and that the employee is answerable to that manager. If tasks and related responsibilities are given to the employee by more than one manager, this may lead to confusion which may lead to possible conflicts for employees. Hence this is valid to our contemporary school or administration because the coordinator of school provide the instructions or order to the subordinate to be observed (Rue, 2009)

              Unity of Direction, his is all about focus and unity; hence employees or workers deliver the same activities that can be linked to the same objectives. All activities must be carried out by one group that forms a team. These activities must be described in a plan of action. The manager is ultimately responsible for this plan and he monitors the progress of the defined and planned activities. Focus areas are the efforts made by the employees and coordination. In our current school this is applicable because it can bring unity

              Subordination of individual interest, in order to have an organization function well, Henri Fayol indicated that personal interests are subordinate to the interests of the organization (ethics). The primary focus is on the organizational objectives and not on those of the individual. This applies to all levels of the entire organization, including the managers and the workers thus is reflective to many schools or organizations with clear plan to reach the goals

               Remuneration, motivation and productivity are close to one another as far as the smooth running of an organization is concerned. Henri  Fayol argue that the remuneration should be sufficient to keep employees motivated and productive. There are two types of remuneration namely non-monetary (a compliment, more responsibilities, credits) and monetary (compensation, bonus or other financial compensation). Ultimately it is about rewarding the efforts that have been made. This will encourage the employees (Betaman, 2011)

                The Degree of Centralization, management and authority for decision-making process must be properly balanced in an organization. This depends on the volume and size of an organization including its hierarchy. Centralization implies the concentration of decision making authority at the top management (executive board). Sharing of authorities for the decision-making process with lower levels (middle and lower management), is referred to as decentralization by indicated that an organization should strive for a good balance in this.

This can be valid to now day’s schools and administration to avoid the conflicts between mangers and the employees (Scott, 1992)

                Scalar chain hierarchy presents itself in any given organization. This varies from senior management (executive board) to the lowest levels in the organization. Henri Fayol’s “hierarchy” management principle states that there should be a clear line in the area of authority (from top to bottom and all managers at all levels). Each employee can contact a manager or a superior in an emergency situation without challenging the hierarchy. Especially, when it concerns reports about calamities to the immediate managers/superiors hence in any school organization or administration in order to function well must follow this principle

            Order, employees in an organization must have the right resources at their disposal so that they can function properly in an organization. In addition to social order or responsibility of the managers the work environment must be safe, clean and tidy the manager or head of school should observe this situation in order to the institution function well (Gupta, 1992)

           Equity, the management principle of equity often occurs in the core values of an organization. According to Henri Fayol, employees must be treated kindly and equally. Employees must be in the right place in the organization to do things right. In school organization the head of school or Managers should supervise and monitor this process and they should treat employees fairly and impartially. This management principle represents deployment and managing of personnel and this should be in balance with the service that is provided from the organization. Management strives to minimize employee turnover and to have the right staff in the right place. Focus areas such as frequent change of position and sufficient development must be managed well. (Okumbe,1998)

              Taylor Scientific management developed by Fredrick Winslow Taylor as the father of scientific management as factory labour, supervisor and chief engineer spent a lot of times in doing the experiments in order to increase the efficiency on the shop floor.

Tylor’s scientific management approach would not be adopted because it’s many weaknesses as discussed below

              It requires huge capital; the theory requires an investment of huge capital and is considered as a costly system. The establishment of work study, planning department, training of workers, and standardization requires more money, hence this approach would n be adopted more in the administration because is very expensive (Munro, 2008)

               Management takes control, the management takes complete responsibility related to control and planning of work place activities. Since the managers take up control of the employees, they lack creativity; another reason of this is that since they repeat the same task, their chore is meaningless, monotonous and tedious which reduces employee motivation. For that situation this approach is not suitable adopt to our now days’ administration

             Planning reduces productivity, though the capability to plan ahead is an advantage, the downside of planning is that it makes work inflexible and ridged and may lead to carelessness and dissatisfaction. This is directed to less productivity. Hence this approach is disadvantageous thus is not suitable to be applicable in the administration (Noll, 2008)

             Demotivating approach, with the application of scientific approach of management, the employees are focused on how well they perform their job and their statistics and results are produced along with a time frame. With this result, the employees may feel underestimated and also feel alienated which may direct them to absenteeism (Okumbe, 1998)

            It is characterised with overly bureaucratic, over bureaucratic activity may be a major disadvantage in any organization. A bureaucratic and strict organization may make the employees feel dissatisfied and this may lead to high staff turnover rates and may affect productivity. New staffs must be trained in order to adapt to new changes in the sector which leads to wastage of productivity time that situation this approach is not role model to the administration or organization to function well (Galambwa,2009)

             It is mechanistic, the theory follows a specific approach for organizations and the employers gain control over the workers. This activity makes work mechanistic and treats the workers like machines. The theory focuses on efficiency, where workers were viewed as robots to speed up work. The workers lose skill level and autonomy work level they are not beneficial for state of the art working conditions. Therefore this approach is not good hence would not be adopted to function well in any administration (Landers, 1977)

             It is not suitable for teams, scientific management theory doesn’t work fruitful for teams and groups as they have the capability to abuse and exploit human beings which may lead to conflicts. There is no scope for individual preference with this theory. Functional foremanship was followed by Taylor, where the workers were required to report to eight bosses. By this way, the unity of command was broken, where the worker needs to report to just one boss. When there is no unity of command, there is confusion and disorder in the organization.

         Work division, through applying scientific management theory there is a separation of work such as in planning any function and executing them. Since management takes complete responsibility, there is a reduction in workers role into rigid and adherence procedures where, the workers have no idea. For that case is not advantageous in the administration function well or properly

           It avoids bargaining, since the scientific approach follows piece work pay system, there is not chance for any realistic bargaining regarding the wage rates, as the tasks are timed, measured and rated scientifically. Hence is not good to adopt it to function in now day’s administration, this is because the organization will not function well (Scott, 1992)

            It can lead unemployment, with the application of this theory; men are replaced by machines which in turn lead to unemployment. By this way, fewer employees are required and many are chucked out from work. Generally is selective one for that case leading many people to become jobless. The scientific management theory pushes workers to rush to complete their work and complete work within stipulated time. By this way there is adverse effect on the health of the workers. It is not good to adopt in organization or administration (Rue, 992)

             It cause stress among the workers, with managerial decisions, there is strictness and stress for managers as they need to take responsibility for having complete control over workplace. By this way, there is pressure influenced in the work place for the workers too.

Productivity and profitability was given importance which lead to exploitation of employees and they associated in trade unions. This led to the mistrust amongst employees and management.

              There is wrong assumption, according to Frederick Winslow Taylor theory of motivation, employees do not naturally enjoy work and they require close observation and control. Taylor’s assumed that workers focused and was motivated by means of financial gains. But the real truth is that the employees aren’t motivated by finance aspects but by non-finance incentives such as social needs and more (Betaman, 2011)

              It is characterized by following the narrow application, the scientific management theory focuses on a narrow application. They are applied only at times when there is quantitative measuring of the employees. The theory is applied only for certain factories where the performance is measured in a quantitative manner. The theory is not adopted in service sector as here the performance is not measured in a quantitative manner.

             It is time consuming, the scientific management theory is considered time consuming as it requires complete reorganizing and mental revision of the organization. The theory when adopted needs more time for standardization, study and specialization, or else at time of overhauling, the workers suffer. These are considered few advantages and disadvantages of scientific management theory. Hence it is suggested to make a complete research about the theory and review if it would be suitable for the organization and later adopt it (Gupta, 1992)

Generally Taylor scientific management is characterized by many weaknesses but in other hand there are strengths such as training, specialization, standardization, economic motivation, and division of labour, discipline, recruitment based on the ability and expertise, the best way f performing the task and more hence to some extent this can be adopted although there are many criticisms due to its weaknesses in relation to the administration performance.

REFERENCES

Betaman, T.S.& Snell, S.A. (2011). Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive                 World. McGraw- Hill

Galabawa, J,C.J. (2001). Perspectives in Educational Management and Administration. Dar es Salaam: KAD Associates

Gupta, B,C. (1992). Principles and Functios of Management. TATA McGraw

Landers, T.J, & Myers J.G. (1977). Essentials of School Management: London

Munro, J.H (2008). Educational Leadership. Boston: McGraw-Hill

Noll, J.W.M (2008). Educational Issues. New York: MCGraw-Hill

Okumbe, A.J. (1998). Educational management; Theory and Practice. Nairobi University Press

Rue, L.W. & Brayars, L.L(2009). Management Skills and Application, Boston. McGraw-Hill

Scott, R. (1992). Oganzaions. Rational,Naural and Open Systems. Nw Jersey: Prentice Hall.