Résumé des principes généraux de gestion par Fayol (document en anglais)

The managerial function operates only on the personnel and is particularly difficult to master as it is all a question of proportion while playing with flexible principles. In this text, Fayol is enumerating several of these principles.

First, a company should be directed by a single person that will decide for common plans and strategies for the whole organization so as to maintain a corporate cohesion. Moreover, each worker should be led by only one superior. If not, the workers would hesitate as to which lead to follow in case of disagreements. The unity of direction and command are necessary to maintain authority, discipline and order inside the firm. These are three other crucial principles of management relying on the managers’ personality and skills.

So as to maintain discipline, they are supposed to be able to have the employees follow the rules (that result from clear and fair agreements between the owners of the company and the employees) and to be fair enough to judiciously use sanctions when they don’t. But the managers are themselves exposed to sanctions, because their authority is never to be considered without responsibility. If anything was to go wrong, the manager would be the one at fault and thus the one to receive sanctions because he was the one deciding and giving orders.

However, managers should encourage their subordinates to take initiative and thus responsibilities for it is a great source of satisfaction and motivation as well as a great strength for business. If centralization is only natural (we are used to a directive part receiving information from employees and sending them back orders), decentralization is also most useful in larger companies. Indeed, it allows the concern to take fully advantage of the personal’s faculties. Combined with a perfect knowledge of the human requirements and resources of the concern, it could lead to a social order based on division of work. Each workman could be assigned with responsibilities and a task he is best at! And it is preferable that it remains the same for a long a time because one needs time to get accustomed to a new task and be efficient again.

Moreover, respecting the scalar chain has become a hindrance for an organization whose success turns on speedy execution. To avoid any waste of time and resources, two employees of different sections should be allowed to work together directly and take initiatives, so long as they have their superiors’ approval and manage to remain in agreement. If not, the scalar chain is to be resumed. This closer collaboration could also reinforce union and harmony in the company.

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