• What is classical management theory?
• Administration history
• Principles of classical management theory
• Classic administration features
• Importance of classical theory
• Criticisms of classical theory

We explain what the classical theory of administration is, its principles and the functions it assigns to administration.

Classical management theory uses the division of labor to achieve greater efficiency.

What is classical management theory?

The classical theory of management was promoted by the French Henry Fayol in 1916, to offer improvements to the theory of scientific administration or "Taylorism" (raised by Frederick Taylor in 1911). Taylor studied the productive process and Fayol concentrated on the directive of the business.

Classical management theory is a current of the knowledge that arose in response to accelerated business growth after the Second Industrial Revolution. The theory emphasizes the overall management of the organization, that is, the structure and functions that each part of the company must perform (not just improving production methods).

Administration history

The history of the administration is very old and dates from the human being made use of reason in organizing in groups to hunt, gather and form peoples and civilizations, for which he established tasks, action plans and objectives.

The study of the different Models of the administration, oriented to the industrial and business world, was boosted with the Industrial Revolution. The context established new rules of organization with hierarchical systems and divisions of can economic and social. Before the problems From the new scenario, management emerged as a discipline.

Among the main representatives of the administration are:

• Frederick Taylor. He was the father of scientific administration. He proposed organizing work by applying Scientific methods (such as improvement of production systems, selection of workers suitable and the division of labor). Before Taylorism, workers were responsible for planning and executing their jobs, even if they had no technical knowledge of the tasks.
• Henry Ford. He was the creator of industrial mass production. Its objective was to generate a greater quantity of goods in the least weather and even cost reduced. Thanks to the contributions of Ford, the production system was revolutionized. In 1913 it had several industrial plants for the production of the Ford T.
• Henry Fayol. He proposed increasing the efficiency of the company by making all the parts that make up the organization available to the administration, especially the higher levels of command. He postulated five basic functions for the administration process that the under fourteen principles of Fayolism must be carried out.
• Frank B. Gilbreth. He proposed an improvement for the scientific organization through the study of the movement and of time, called “Therblig”, which consisted of the eighteen movements into which any work task could be subdivided (such as searching, finding, selecting, taking, holding, moving, reaching, inspecting, planning).
• Henry Lawrence Gantt. He proposed a system called by its name, Gantt chart, which consisted of a tool to plan and schedule tasks during a certain period (it consisted of a horizontal bar graph ordered by activity, which allowed to see the sequence of work time and organize priorities).
• Elton Mayo. He proposed a psychological and sociological view of the industrial world, which consisted of emphasizing the emotional needs of employees to increase the productivity and promote good labor relations (which are as or more motivating than financial incentives).

Principles of classical management theory

Henry Fayol established 14 principles of administration.

The principles of classical management theory are general regulations that allow management to dominate all functions of the organization. Fayol established fourteen principles:

• The division of labor. Divide the work organization according to the capacity and efficiency of each employee and each area, to achieve a better effectiveness and productivity.
• The authority and responsibility. Establishing a balance between the power exercised by the authority and the functions it must perform helps to avoid the abuse of power.
• The discipline. Respect and make others respect, comply with rules and the regulations of the organization. This principle can be promoted through self-discipline or through sanctions or fines for those who do not respect them.
• Unity of command. Establish that each worker responds to a single direct superior, from whom he will receive orders and support. Otherwise it could affect the performance and productivity of the organization.
• The unit of address. Ensure that all activities that have the same objective (such as marketing, advertising, sales and promotion), are directed by the same person in charge.
• The subordination of individual interest to the general interest. Recognize and promote, firstly, the general interest of the organization and, secondly, that of employees, in order to guarantee continuity over time.
• The remuneration. Keep a politics remuneration (monetary value that the company gives to the employee, in exchange for the services received) that must include financial and non-financial incentives.
• The centralization Y decentralization. Define the degree of concentration of power of the authority, which varies according to the condition of the business and the type of personnel.
• The stepped chain. Clearly establish a line of authority or command, which can be horizontal or vertical.
• The order. Maintain a place for each object in order to optimize production times and maintain social order through the proper selection of each employee in the most suitable position.
• The equity. Give equal treatment to all employees, kindness and justice (this type of bond generates loyalty Y commitment).
• Personal stability. Encourage and monitor the performance of the employee who is permanently hired and who knows that they have opportunities to progress within the organization.
• The initiative. Encourage employees to give their opinions, provide constructive suggestions and put together work plans, so that they feel part of the organization.
• The esprit de corps. Create unity, cooperation and team spirit among employees, to avoid confrontations. It is important to reward each one according to their merits without generating jealousy or situations of disagreement.

Classic administration features

Fayol recognized six groups of basic functions for administration, which every company must bear in mind:

• The technical functions for the production of goods or services.
• Commercial functions for the purchase and sale of goods and services.
• The financial functions for the control of capitals needed to invest.
• The security functions for the protection and preservation of means.
• Accounting functions for balance sheets, expenses and statistics.
• The administrative functions for the integration and coordination of the previous functions.

Once the functions to be carried out by the organization have been detected, the administrative process must be carried out that will allow the coordination of the efforts of the entire organization. The five functions or stages of the administrative process are:

• Planning. It consists of visualizing the future that the organization intends to achieve and drawing up an action plan to get there.
• The organization. It consists of building the necessary structures (material and social) to carry out the work of the organization.
• The address. It consists of guiding and directing all the resources of the organization towards the same objective.
• The coordination. It consists of maintaining the harmony of all those who work in the organization and who may have different interests, so that they work in synergy.
• The control. It consists of monitoring and verifying that each instance of work is performed according to the established standards.

Importance of classical theory

The importance of classical management theory is that it enabled reliable forecasting and efficient management methods to be applied.

Its implementation ensured good results for organizations that performed in a context of great change and uncertainty, as a consequence of the Second Industrial Revolution. With a global view of the actions of the entire Structure of the organization, this model offered improvements to the previous current formulated by Taylor.

Criticisms of classical theory

With classical management, work becomes mechanized and repetitive.

Some of the criticisms of the classical theory are that it lacked experimentation and verification of its principles. In addition, the human factor was not the main focus, on the contrary, this theory exposed workers to deplorable conditions in order to achieve higher productivity performance.

Some authors consider classical theory as "the theory of the machine", whose human Resources They work in a mechanized and repetitive way alongside the machinery. This human aspect was studied in greater depth by the later currents.