The Business Book

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Management roles

KEY DATES

1949 French engineer and business theorist Henri Fayol develops what becomes known as “the classical theory of management.” This claims that managers have five key functions: planning, organizing, coordinating, commanding, and controlling.

1930s Australian psychologist Elton Mayo publishes the Hawthorne Studies, which ushers in an era of people-oriented management, rather than managing according to business objectives alone.

1973 In The Nature of Managerial Work, Henry Mintzberg dismisses Fayol’s claims about the management process as “folklore.”

The question “What do managers do?” has vexed experts, and many ...