Henri Fayol Biography

Henri Fayol was a French industrialist, mining engineer, executive, and director of mines. Fayol together with fellow engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor is considered a founder of modern management. He developed the general theory of business administration which is often called “Fayolism.” He was a theorist of business administration and gave a set of fourteen principles and five functions of management that forms the base for business administration. His contributions to the field of administration are remarkable and numerous modern management concepts have been shaped out of his ideas. He authored several articles on mining engineering and published papers on administration. He was greatly influenced by the Industrial Revolution and its consequences. He witnessed the aftermath of First World War as well. He insisted that managerial skills should be taught in schools to prepare the students for future careers in management. He advocated for a change in the way subjects were handled in schools and opined that subjects not useful at work should be removed and practical training should be introduced.