Successful Student Retention from the Administrative ...



Administrative Management TheoryMelanie L. TurnerBall State UniversityAbstractThis literature review will focus on Administrative Management Theory, developed by Henri Fayol, in response to the lack of management principles for organizations in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The background, history, as well as main points of the theory will be discussed in the introduction. A comparison of the literature to the theory will be discussed and major points will be identified with each piece of literature. Fayol’s Administrative Management Theory will lay the foundation for the administrative structure and principles. Introduction and Background of Administrative Management TheoryAccording to Tompkins (2005), public and private institutions were growing rapidly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Both in the United States and Europe, there was no set of standards for managing a complex institution, a work environment that was growing by leaps and bounds, both in Europe and the United States. There was a need for structuring authoritative lines and responsibilities from the top down in an organization as well as explicit separation of labor within the departments of the organization and the appropriate authority given to administrators of the organization, depending on their level of responsibilities. Henri Fayol’s background is that of an engineer. He was employed by a coalmining firm, Commentry-Fourchambault, and stayed with this company until his retirement in 1918. During his tenure, he brought the company through a near-bankruptcy and facilitated its growth through the end of World War I. He attributed his success to basic principles of management; however, no manual was available for general management in the early 1900’s. According to Fayol, there are five managerial functions: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. One of the main duties of a good manager is to oversee the work of subordinates and maintain accountability but still give them a sense of empowerment over their own abilities. Supervisors are responsible for these functions, not just the CEO. He stressed that the responsibilities need to be flexible and available to be adapted to each situation that may arise in an organization. With these functions, Fayol introduced administrative methods for conducting daily business within an organization: survey, action plan, statistical reports, minutes, and an organizational chart. This keeps the organization moving in the right direction and promotes improvement within the administration. During his tenure with the mine, Fayol developed fourteen administrative principles (p. 100) applying them to the management of employees in his position as the executive officer. I have placed my comments regarding each principle in italics. They are:1.Division of work. All complex organizations must assign fixed tasks to its members to profit from the advantages of specialization. (People will become skilled in areas when they are assigned directly to something.)2.Authority and responsibility. Authority gives rise to responsibility; good leaders must exercise both formal and personal authority and must sanction those who do not fulfill their assignment responsibilities. (Supervisors/leaders are responsible for success of their employees and make them accountable if they don’t fulfill those responsibilities.)3.Discipline. Leaders must maintain discipline if the organization is to function efficiently and effectively; obedience, loyalty, and dedication must be obtained from all members in accordance with employer-employee agreements. (Appropriate discipline is important to maintain order which in turn leads to loyalty and dedication to the organization.)4.Unity of command. An employee should receive orders from only one superior, his or her immediate supervisor; dual command undermines authority, discipline, and order. (Receiving orders from more than one supervisor blurs the true authority of the supervisor in charge.)5.Unity of direction. There should be one leader and one plan for a group of activities having the same objective. (Leaders can be a collective group, but only one of them should be the leader of the group when having shared activities.)6. Subordination of individual interest to general interest. The interests of any member or group of members must not be allowed to prevail over the interests of the organization as a whole; ways must be found to reconcile individual and general interests. (The organization’s interest is most important; individual or group interest must be corralled to reach a compromise with the interest of the organization.)7.Remuneration of personnel. Employees must receive remuneration that is fair and encourages productive work effort. (Fair pay for what you’re worth!)8.Centralization. Directives must always come from a central source, but the optimal balance between centralization and decentralization must be determined for each organization separately; this is a question of how much discretion to allow members at each level. (Each organization must decide how much comes from the very top and how much comes from the supervisory level.)9.Scalar chain. Complex organizations require a chain of superiors from the highest to lowest levels of authority; communications normally must ascend and descend through each level, although authorized exceptions may be made in the interest of speed. (All superiors in the top to bottom chain should be included in any communications; if authorized, however, flexibility in relaying the communications may take place if important.)10.Order. Smooth organizational functioning requires a place for everything and everyone, and everything and everyone in its appointed place. (There is a place for everything and everyone, and everyone and everything should remain in their place.) 11.Equity. Retaining devoted and loyal employees requires that they be treated with kindliness and fairness. (This is extremely important, especially with today’s transient employee. Company loyalty is at a low point today.)12.Stability of tenure of personnel. Smooth organizational functioning is impossible when personnel, especially management personnel, are constantly coming and going; steps must be taken to obtain as much stability as possible. (Maintaining management personnel is very important to keep the organization running smoothly. It is not in the best interest of the company to be training new managers all the time. Finding employees that believe in the organization and stay is the key to its success.)13.Initiative. It is essential to encourage individual initiative because it stimulates motivation; this is achieved by allowing employees freedom to propose and carry out their own ideas, within the limits of authority and discipline. (The freedom to go to a supervisor with an idea and it is within the realm of the goals of the company, creates the atmosphere of worthiness and value for employees.)14.Esprit de corps. Every effort must be made to establish and maintain cohesion among personnel; dividing enemy forces is clever, but dividing one’s own team is a grave error. (Kind of like organizational suicide; a division of the team means impending doom. An organization should be in general agreement with each other, not pitting one side against the other.)With the following literature, I will attempt to apply these administrative principles ofHenri Fayol.A Model of Natural Disaster Administration: Naming and Framing Theory and RealityRichard Herzog’s article, written in 2007, was after the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, and discusses the difference between natural and man-made disasters and how they can have common goals and principles in which to follow. It also describes the theory and reality in the administration of natural and man-made disasters. An example of a natural and man-made disaster would be the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, and the man-made loss of the breached levees (p. 587). The administration of handling natural disasters in our country has the responsibility of proposing theories which also reduces the ambiguity portrayed to the public of anticipated problems. This article argues there were no clear-cut theories in place for disasters of this size. The article explains a series of filters necessary for correct administration of a good natural disaster theory. They include 1) Disaster planning and mitigation, 2) projected/actual reality, and 3) disaster management/response. Public administration theories were not applied as well to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in that their theories were not well developed. This takes time and employees with expertise in the area. These theories were not thought out nor experienced in a setting as monumental as this particular natural event. They were not prepared for the needless loss of human life and pain and suffering (p. 590). A plan put together with experienced employees in this field at the table, could be in place for future disasters. Dividing the work up between the employees of the organization as well as giving direction and guidance through the process would be helpful. Discussions between public and private agencies should take place so both may learn from past mistakes and successes. The author believes, “theoretical approaches should play a more prominent role in natural disaster administration.” (p. 586)Supporting Faculty through a New Teaching and Learning CenterCentralization in planning for this center came from the author of this article. After discussion and working closely with administrators and creating an advisory board, as well as talking with other directors of teaching and learning centers, there were many areas in which to pull expertise in this field from the university. Newly retired faculty still interested in serving in some capacity were recruited, and offered advice, conducted focus groups, or collected ideas from the several colleges on campus. Current faculty was included by establishing a faculty advisory board. Academic Assessment assisted with pulling together all the information from questionnaires, surveys, and focus groups with stakeholders within the organization. This project had a leader or central figure in the birth of the project, with the expertise of retired faculty, current faculty, the blessing of the administrators, and the assistance from other departments on campus. Moving from A to BThis article, written by management consultant Paul Engle, describes a situation in which he was requested to evaluate a software program and enhance a complex process necessary for the smooth running of their organization. It was the opinion of the author that the organization only needed to enhance the software already established instead of replacing it by reducing the steps it took to complete the process. He proved to them that the finished product would produce even higher quality results with the enhancement on their existing program.The management team was more anxious to receive a new software program than they were in enhancing the existing one. Once on board and fully believing in the consultant, they had the task of getting the other employees on board. By talking with the employees, many more ideas were discovered to be beneficial to the enhancement of the software. The team recruited key individuals to assist in the enhancement of the software program, per the direction of the consultant. This gave the employees a feeling of empowerment and pride in their work. They were being taken seriously and awarded for their efforts toward enhancing the program.ConclusionThis paper has attempted to review the administrative management theory, comprised by Henri Fayol. Review of the history of Fayol, his background and foundations for the theory were discussed and fourteen administrative principles listed for information. It is interesting to me to review these principles and know that, in general, these principles are followed today in both private and public sectors of business. Flexibility is key in applying these principles to every work situation, but can succeed if there is a strong group of managers and leaders who can view their employees as a group of their team, having ideas and concerns for the common good: their employer.ReferencesD’Avanzo, C. (2009). Supporting faculty through a new teaching and learning center. AAC&U Peer Review, Spring, 2009, 22-25.Engle, P. (2012). Moving from a to b. Industrial Engineer, 44(7), 20.Herzog, R. (2007). A model of natural disaster administration: Naming and framing theory and reality. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 49(4), 49(4), 586-604.Tompkins, J. R. (2005). Organization theory and public management. Boston, MA: Wadsworth. ................
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