ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how close Henri Fayol's theory was to practice in the Commentry-Fourchambault et Decazeville Company's factories and mines. The management of managers at Commentry-Fourchambault et Decazeville followed classical principles, including a share in profits that doubled fixed salaries, recruitment criteria based on the qualities of a good leader, the promotion of engineers that met expectations and the dismissal of those who poorly carried out their work. Henri Fayol first presented a chart of the company's management structure that included the directors and main heads of the different sites to the board in 1892. While the organizational chart only concerns senior management, one can reconstruct the complete chart down to the worker level using archives from the commentry mine. Thirty years later the organization of the mine had changed little. As organizing involves providing the enterprise with the necessary resources, it includes the management of managers, their recruitment, career and training.
