Fayol's 14 principles in the canadian industry of the 21st, century

Fayol’s 14 principles in the Canadian industry of the 21st, Century.

By : Doris Maradiaga
Date : March 29, 2010

(I will make this analysis from the perspective of an Engineer with experience in the manufacturing industry)

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the applicability of Fayol’s 14 principles in the Canadian industry of the 21st, Century.

Companies in Canada as anycompany in the world need a good management in order to survive in the current globalized market, which is more than ever an extremely competitive environment.

As we all know Henry Fayol is acknowledge as the founder of the classical Organization theory which include his 14 principles of management; as Carl Rodriguez said[1] “These principles provided and continue to provide a general managementperspective for practicing managers and an instruction tool for academicians teaching in the field of management”.

Principle#1 Division of work: Specialization allows the individual to build up experience and to continuously improve his skills. Thereby he can be more productive.
In current manufacturing industry the division of work is a key factor to reach production goals; each task is dividedinto smaller elements and studied to the minimum movement, workers are then trained in the best way to develop the task and guided until reach the expected individual goals.
However in 21 century with the globalization and fierce competence for quality and price, manufacturers in Canada have not been able to keep the jobs that required low-skill labour in the country, and have been obligated totransfer them to countries with a significantly lower labour cost.[2]
Principle#2 Authority and responsibility: The right to issue commands, along with which must go the balanced responsibility for its function.
To properly run a manufacturing company, authority and responsibilities must be clearly identify within the workers, there must be always a leader to follow, and there must be alwayssomebody accountable for the decisions taken.
However in this century were team work is key for success, the participation of workers is appreciated and also expected, weather it is to propose ways to improve their own task or to propose changes to improve the development of production lines to reach assigned goals.
Principle#3 Discipline: Employees must obey, but this is two-sided, employees willonly obey orders, if management play their part by providing good leadership.
Discipline is of utmost importance in any company in any type of industry, it has to be reinforced in order to keep and maintain a proper functionality and be able to establish production goals; discipline at all levels from complying with schedules, daily assistance, overtime, work according with the establishedmethods, etc.
However in modern industry people use to follow orders, no matter the type of leadership they are provided; employees in his majority will not question an order from a superior, unless they feel they are more experienced and have been working in the company for many years executing the same task.
The code of disciple of the company allows the management to impose sanctions fromwarnings, penalties, demotions, or even dismissals.[3]
 Principle#4 Unity of command: Each worker should have only one boss with no other conflicting lines of command
In the manufacturing industry the unity of command is more evident; production lines are established and are expected to perform specific tasks and reaching a specific goal, they are managed by one supervisor and operators must followonly to his/her command to maintain the team focus that will drive them to accomplish their production goals.
They cannot be 2 supervisors in the same production line, this will create confusion, disorder and chaos, making impossible to attain any objectives.[4]
Principle#5 Unity of direction: People engaged in the same kind of activities must have the same objectives in a single plan. This is...