Management assignment. Fayols five processes of management functions are essential for studying constituent elements of management, while Mintzbergs model further details the complex, multidimensional nature of management.

Authors Avatar by frank5050 (student)

Student ID: z3333278
Course: MGMT 1001

Management functions have traditionally been defined in terms of planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Since the publication of The Nature of Managerial Work (1973), academics have questioned the validity of the classical model, compared with Mintzberg’s ten managerial roles. Fayol’s five processes of management functions are essential for studying constituent elements of management, while Mintzberg’s model further details the complex, multidimensional nature of management. In essence, despite their differences, both approaches should be integrated to foster the most useful understanding of management.

Miner (1971) states that most management textbooks are organised into major segments according to Fayol’s five management functions (Carroll & Gillen, 1987). These management functions, guided by his fourteen principles traditionally developed by Henri Fayol in his Administration Industrielle et Générale (1916), establishes the foundation of most management courses offered during that period. Fayol pioneered the functional approach to management, emphasising that management is centred around: planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Successful management can only arise from the effective implementation of such “processes”.

However, Fayol’s classical administrative theory was subject to challenge in 1973. Henry Mintzberg criticized the model’s inability to specify managerial roles. From his empirical observations of five senior management executives, Mintzberg concluded that Fayol’s traditional functional approach was oversimplified and therefore unrealistic. He notes that managers are confronted daily by different people and situations, each requiring a different role and combination of management skills (Gentry, Harris, Baker & Leslie, 2008). Thus he concludes that managers do not perform only five management functions. Rather, they are required to enact multiple roles.

Join now!

Mintzberg formulated three categories of managerial activities, “Interpersonal”, “Informational” and “Decision Making”, separated into ten roles that managers must adopt to achieve high levels of efficiency. These roles are: figurehead, leader, liaison, monitor, disseminator, spokesperson, entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. All roles are interrelated and managers are required to act out different roles in different situations. As opposed to Fayol’s classical approach where functions are task orientated, this behavioural approach focuses on the interaction and communication between managers, employees and resources.

Although Fayol’s management processes were dismissed by Mintzberg, Mintzberg’s model in fact confirms the classical ...

This is a preview of the whole essay