Comparison between Max Weber’s Theory and Henry Fayol’s

Theory

Eva Anggraini – MAP Linkage 2019

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Before mentioning those two magnificent theories of organization, we need to take

into consideration about a fundamental theory that inspires Max Weber and Henry Fayol.
The scientific management is stated by Frederick Taylor. The theory has an approach to
private companies and answering the question on how to increase the efficiency of private
companies. Shafritz and Ott in Classical Organization Theory (2001, 61) mentioned about
Taylor’s theory which mentioned about the management would have nothing to say about
the worker's way of working. The autonomy of to the worker, the trust placed in the
worker is, according to Taylor, the cause of business inefficiency and inefficiency. It is
because workers control the production process that firms produce less than they could
produce. These modes of operation must be changed and a specific power structure
imposed. Taylor promoted the idea of scientific organization of work. The working
methods will not be left to the workers, but to the engineers. The spirit of controlling the
worker, of controlling the civil servant can be found as much in Weber as in Taylor.

Max Weber was born in 1864 in Germany. He was concerned at the condition of
authority which is not a function of experience and ability, but earned by social status. Due
to this fact, managers were not loyal to the organization. Organizational resources were
used for the owner’s and manager’s benefit rather than to meet organizational goals.
Weber was convinced that organizations based on rational authority, where authority was
given to the most competent and qualified people would be more efficient than those based
on who you knew. Weber called this type of rational organization a bureaucracy.
 The Characteristic of Bureaucracy

Characteristic of
Description
the Bureaucracy

Hierarchical Each level controls the levels below and is controlled by the
Management level above. Authority and responsibilities are clearly
Structure defined for each position.

Tasks are clearly defined and employees become skilled by

Division of Labor specializing in doing one thing. There is clear definition of
authority and responsibility.

Employee selection and promotion are based on experience,

Formal Selection
competence, and technical qualification demonstrated by
Process
examinations, education, or training. There is no nepotism.

Management is separate from ownership, and managers are

Career Orientation career employees. Protection from arbitrary dismissal is
guaranteed.

Rules and regulations are documented to ensure reliable and

Formal Rules and
predictable behavior. Managers must depend on formal
Regulations
organizational rules in employee relations.

Rules are applied uniformly to everyone. There is no

Impersonality
preferential treatment or favoritism.

Table 1. Weber’s Bureaucracy Characters (derived from lumenmaywalker.com)

Henry Fayol was a French management theorist. If a human organization is to be

effective, efficient and achieve its objectives, it must comply with the 14 (fourteen)
principles identified. Although he was older compared to Weber, Fayol incorporated some
of Weber’s ideas in his theories. However, unlike Weber, Fayol was concerned with how
workers were managed and how they contributed to the organization. He proposed that
successful organizations with successful management were interconnected to the
employees satisfaction and motivation.

Fayol’s fourteen theory consists of:

 The Principles of
Description
Administration
To produce better with less effort requires
Division of labour
specialization of functions
Authority Responsibility: persons order and can give sanction
Discipline Respect for command and a number of conventions
An officer should receive orders from only one leader.
Command unit This refers to the pyramid organization of the
organization.
A single leader and a single program for a set of
Unit of management
operations with the same goal which is unit of action
Subordination of the
It is the hierarchy interest, e. g. of chiefs, fair
special interest to the
agreements, supervision.
general interest
Price of the service rendered per day, per task, per
Staff remuneration piece, payment of bonuses, profit-sharing, shares and
symbolic and honorary bonuses.
It is a model that is extremely centralized, with a lot of
(De)centralization
room for the centre and the hierarchy.
The chain of command imposed by the need to transmit
information and organize command units. When
Hierarchy
transmitting information, it is always necessary to go
through the chain of command.
A place for everything and everything in its place, i.e.
Order "the right man at the right place" is good organization
and good recruitment.
Equity Benevolence and justice
Staff stability Training time
Initiative To propose and implement
Do not divide staff, do not abuse written
communications. According to Fayol, if we respect all
Staff union these principles, we would have an "administrative
code" that would allow us to effectively manage the
administration.
 In the same way, Max Weber and Henri Fayol took the scientific theory that
established by Frederick Taylor and improved it in their own way. Their approaches are
focusing on administrative management theory. As the key figures in the 20th century, they
both provided a clear and appropriate set of guidelines that easy to adopt and can be
utilized by managers to actualize an efficient and effective work setting. Weber and Fayol
also shared same concerns for equity and established appropriate links between
performance and rewards that become central themes in contemporary theories of
motivation and leadership. Both of their theories become a huge influential basis theory
that still practiced until now.

Even though both theories are trying to achieve the same goal, each one of the
theories had different strategies. Max Weber believed in the theory of bureaucracy and had
6 (six) different principles on how to achieve authority. He also set rules, norms and what
he called SOPs or standard operating procedures. These rules, norm, and SOPs provided
behavioral guidelines that increased the performance of the bureaucratic system because
they specified the best ways to accomplish organizational tasks and these rules, norms, and
SOPs are still present in multinational governments to hospital, armies and universities. On
the other hand, Henri Fayol identified 14 (fourteen) principles of management and he
adopted Weber's principles. He also added recognition of the pivotal role played by
informal authority. Fayol focused on providing a justice and respectful organization for the
workers.

There is a problem with Weber theory and that is so rigid and it didn't allow
employees to have creativity or being innovative; whom Fayol thought, it was important for
the sake of diversity in an organization to allow such creative and innovation. He is the first
person to use Remuneration of Personnel, which is the system that managers use to give a
reward for employees and the amount of reward is equitable for organization. Fayol has
also the first one to propose the idea of long term employees should develop skills that can
improve organization efficiency. Whereas Weber didn't state anything about long term
employees. Weber's theory was about rules to improve efficiency. His second theory
mentioned about workers should occupy positions because of their performance not
because of their social standing or personal contacts which is not coped by Fayol in his
theory.

Source:

Bureaucratic Management. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-

principlesofmanagement/chapter/reading-bureaucratic-management/

Bendix, Reinhard (1977). Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait. University of California

Press.

Tompkins, Jonathan R. (2005). Organization Theory and Public Management. Thomson

Wadsworth.

Wood, John C.; Wood, Michael C. (2002), Henri Fayol: Critical Evaluations in Business and
Management. Taylor & Francis.