Biography

Fayol was born Galata, in the suburbs of Constantinople, Turkey, to French parents On his family's return to France he began his education and attended the Lycée Impérial in Lyon and the Saint-Etienne School of Mines, having developed an intense interest in scientific matter and geology.  

His work as a mining engineer led to his appointment as managing director of a major French mining and meteorological group. 

From his writing emerged his Theory of Administration for managers, which had five main elements: Planning; Organisation; Command; Co-ordination and Control. Of management he believed that it should be applied not only to business but also society and into the home, where it should be taught to children.  

Initially, Fayol maintained that his management ideas were different to Taylor's, but he later regarded them as being complementary and believed that his first conclusion was caused by the use of different words and language.  Drucker regarded  Fayol as one of management's pioneers and a brilliant creative thinker, and used his ideas as the foundation of his Management by Objectives theory (MbO).

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