Running head: Final Paper 1

Final Paper

Yesenia Gonzalez

Dr.Patricia M Blanco

South Texas College

Capstones
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Henri Fayol was born in Istanbul, Turkey on 29 July 1841. In 1860 at age 19 Fayol

graduated as a mining engineer .He worked in a very large mining company in France. Henri

was a director of mines and modern management theoretician. His scientific management theory

forms the base for business administration and business management. In the academic world, this

is also known as Fayolism. Henri Fayol provided one of the most influential modern

management concepts of his time. He is the founder of the 14 Principles of management and the

five functions of management.

Henri’s began to develop important ways of how managers should organize and interact

with staff. His 14 principles of management are 1. division of work, 2. authority, 3. discipline, 4.

unity of command, 5. unity of direction, 6. subordination, 7. remuneration, 8. centralization, 9.

scalar chain, 10. order, 11. equity, 12. stability, 13. initiative, and 14. esprit de corps. Fayol 14

principles of management showed people how run an organization teaching them in detail how to

best run their employees. His work was a guideline for managers to become great managers. His

work was one of the first to be created surrounding management.

He also founded the five functions of management planning, organizing, commanding,

coordinating, and controlling. Henri’s Five functions of management helps people how to solve

problems. It’s a guideline for managers to use everyday. I found these 5 functions of

management to be extremely useful and even in today’s society. His theories are useful to almost

any business his theories started being used in the 1900s here in America. As stated in Fayol

Publishes General and Industrial Management ​“Fayol’s major influence on American

management, however, came after World War II with the 1949 publication of his book under the
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title ​General and Industrial Management,​ translated by Constance Storrs. His functional

approach to the study of management became known in the literature as the process school of

management thought. By the 1950’s, chapters of most management textbooks were structured

around his functional areas of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling.

Fayol’s work provided the important theoretical foundation needed to prepare students to enter

the practice of management.” Lynch, R.G (2019)

In today’s world, Henri’s Fayol 5 functions of management could be helpful to a current

issue Rio Grande City School District is facing at work. I currently work in Rio Grande City

Consolidated Independent School District. I work as a teacher aide in Alto Bonito Elementary. I

have worked there for three years now. This beginning school year we were notified of big

changes due to our financial situations and budget cuts at RGCCISD. One of the biggest issues

there was state cuts and because of that employees were faced with the changes.

Our School District is facing major changes one being that a new IDEA school was

opened here in Rio Grande City. That left RGCCISD was a major loss of students which meant

major budget cuts by the state. RGCCISD was left with empty classrooms and a overstaffed

situation. The school board members had to make a hard decision and unfortunately get rid of

alot of staff. They eliminated teachers who never completed their tests and certification. They

also let go of permanent subs and announced they would not be using subs during the school

year. They would be pulling out the extra staff like the coaches and counselors to cover

classrooms. This made teachers very upset because it puts a lot of pressure and demanded them

to not try to miss work. Also the support staff we not fawn of the idea to become subs all year

round because the hiring of subs was not an option anymore.

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Another major change went especially for the elementary school. RGCCISD announced a

new three year old program. A program created for three year old to start school a year earlier.

This was created for the intention to recuperate more students and create another way for

RGCCISD to get money. This program was not a healthy one for the staff. One because the

school did not provide a curriculum, enough staff, or the right trainings. Three year olds are a lot

of work and as expressed by teachers it was more of a daycare then a learning environment.

Many teachers refused to be moved to the Pre-K 3 and were not happy about being put there.

The school district also announced that the children did not have to be potty trained and that

created mayhem with the employees. The teachers would be forced to change diapers of up to 18

to 25 students they had in their classrooms. They found this ridiculous and unfair and unfit for

them to do. Although all of this backlash they managed to open this new system in all their

elementary schools.

Another issue elementary schools faced was the new beyond the bell system set in place.

The school district offered a daycare for working parents that students could stay in the campus

until 5:30pm. All of the principals took different approaches to this change. Some made teachers

aides come at later times so they could stay later. Other’s forced all campus teachers to rotate

turns since they work on salary, not on an hourly rate. As imagined this was a very unfair

situation to all staff because to them it was more work for no extra money. Even the caterifia

staff was affected because they had to stay later to provide lunch with no extra pay. All these

changes the school district was doing created major resistance but due to over staff situation

either you did it or got let go of. All the employees had no choice either they lost their job or did

as they were told.

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At this point all of the distinct was doing was thinking of ways to recuperate students but

not thinking of their employees. They didn’t think of the changes and the feelings of their

employees they just did what they could to bump up their financial state. This situation needs to

be resolved and fixed. RGCCISD needs to come up with a plan and find strategies that best fit

their organization and find ways to better communicate and run their employees. This helps

RGCCISD and it’s staff members see the future of their district still in place. They need to see

that without these major changes RGCCISD could close down schools and have even more

major impacts. WIth the help of Henri Fayol’s five management functions it could help resolve

major issues at their school.

First is planning. Planning is a process of thinking it’s the vision and goals you have for

your organization. Having a plan defines where you are going and want to end up. Without a

good plan you and your employees do not have a clear path to go on. RGCCISD needs to plan

out what’s next to come and not make plans without discussing with their employees. If they

would hold meetings discussing their plans and considering the input of their staff such a

negative response wouldn’t occur. Communication is key to having a healthy relationship with

employees. By doing this RGCCISD will experience less hasty decisions and reduce backlash.

Second is organizing. Organizing is how objectives are going to be achieved. Having

good organization hold the key to a good structure at your workplace. Setting specific tasks and

job roles help employees know their place, tasks, and duties. If RGCCISD knew how to better

set specific roles and tasks they wouldn't have employees feeling lost and feeling not fit for that

job position. RGCCISD just makes random decisions and just puts whoever in any given chance

which makes it impossible for employees to do their job correctly. They need to apply
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organizational strategies in their school systems in order to not have misunderstandings,

confusions, and disloyalty within their schools.

Third is commanding. Commanding is employees knowing exactly what’s expected of

them. Having clear instructions on what to do is key in this situation. RGCCISD employees do

not have clear instructions because what is being expected of them is constantly changing at the

last minute. The importance of using this strategy is crucial to the organization functioning

properly. I think this is RGCCISD biggest downfall and this is what upsets the employees the

most. Is the lack of knowledge they have on their job positions. So much is thrown at them and

with no warning.

Fourth is coordinating. Coordination aims to create motivation within the organization.

This is great for RGCCISD employees. Why because they feel so used and overworked without

zero rewards in place. If they have motivation and felt appreciated they would work better.

There’s nothing wrong with making your employees feel special and using simple things to

ensure that employees feel good and rewarded.

Finally the fifth management function is controlling. Control is the measuring of job

performance. Establishing standards, reporting and comparing them leads to good job

performance. Having good management follow up teacher’s performances would allow every

teacher to feel everyone is working equally. For example state exams results and scores are a

great way of knowing who's doing what. RGCCISD needs to have better monitoring skills set in

place so employees can do their jobs right.

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Conclusion

After careful review of Henri’s Fayol five functions of management I saw how important

and useful they are in even today’s companies and organizations. Applying Henri’s five

functions to my current organization will help them tremendously. Their is only room for

improvement when it comes to these five strategies. It’s important for managers to study past

theorists and their proven work as a guideline to become great managers to be able to run

organizations.
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References

Lynch, R. G. (2019). Fayol Publishes General and Industrial Management. ​Salem Press

Encyclopedia​. Retrieved from

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&A

N=89314546&site=eds-live&scope=site

SCHIMMOELLERC, L. (2012). Henri Fayol and Zero Tolerance Policies. ​Review of

International Comparative Management / Revista de Management Comparat International,​
13​(1), 30–36. Retrieved from
https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&A
N=83300541&site=eds-live&scope=site

McLean, J. (2011). Fayol - standing the test of time. ​Manager: British Journal of
Administrative Management,​ (74), 32–33. Retrieved from
https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=bth&AN=60686201&site=eds-live&scope=site

Voxted, S. (2017). 100 years of Henri Fayol. ​Management Revue​, ​28(​ 2),
256–274. ​https://doi-org.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/10.5771/0935-9915-2017-2-256

NĂSTASE, M., GIUCLEA, M., & BOLD, O. (2012). The Impact of Change
Management in Organizations - a Survey of Methods and Techniques for a Successful
Change. ​Review of International Comparative Management / Revista de Management
Comparat International​, ​13​(1), 5–16. Retrieved from
https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=bth&AN=83300539&site=eds-live&scope=site
Final Paper 9

The role of a manager has to change in these key ways. (2018, November 5). Business
Mirror​ ​(Pakistan). Retrieved from
https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.southtexascollege.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&A
N=G90BBMI20181105.00044.2&site=eds-live&scope=site