06201068 - Principles of management

This course is an introduction to the main principles of management. Firstly, it aims to provide a basic understanding of the history of management from the industrial revolution to the various leadership models of today. Secondly, it presents the different roles and functions of managers in a company, which are often overlooked or underestimated. Finally, this course enables students to develop a critical view of the world of work and the current changes that are taking place across the board, by analysing the limits and risks of new ways of organising work and production.

DIMENSION OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

This course looks at the manager's regulatory role, particularly with regard to the occupational health of his or her staff, as well as the environmental limits of new ways of organising production and work. Through this course, first-year students will be able to sharpen their critical eye on the changes taking place.

TARGETED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS 

The three main teaching objectives of this course are to: 
- Know the major trends in management history. 
- Know the different roles of a manager in a company. 
- Understand the current major challenges of management. 

Thus, this course enables students to acquire varied and fundamental knowledge in the field of management, and to be able to step back and take a critical look at the world around them.

COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction: what is « management »?

Part 1 - The history of management since the industrial revolution

Lesson 1 - Companies’ modern management
1. Taylorism and the scientific organisation of work (SOW)
2. The Fordist mode of production
3. The administrative organisation of work (OAT)
4. The empirical school of management
    
Lesson 2 - Human relations’ management
1. The Force Field Theory
2. The principle of relationships integrated with management styles
3. Blake and Mouton’s two dimensions of management
4. Motivation theory and Maslow’s pyramid of needs

Lesson 3 - Contemporary management models
1. Managing commitment
2. The different approaches of leadership
3. Towards a partnership management approach

Part 2 - The different roles of managers

Lesson 4 - First level HRM (2 course sessions)
1. The manager's primary role: developing HR
2. The manager's second role: managing employment contracts 
    
Lesson 5 - Operational work management (2 course sessions)
1. The three dimensions of operationnal work management 
2. The human consequences of everyday problems of work
3. The managerial support within operational work

Part 3 - The current major challenges of management
Lesson 6 - Management in the face of telework
1. The spread of telework
2. Managing remotly: what does it change?

Lesson 7 - Management in the face of AI development    
1. The development of AI
2. The advent of Industry 4.0

Lesson 8 - Management in the face of workers’ new occupational aspirations
1. Understanding changes in the world of work: insights from the sociology of work
2. Generational contrasts: a challenge for managers?
3. How can we understand the managers of today and tomorrow? 

RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

1. Alfehaid, L., & Mohamed, E. E. (2019). Understanding the influence of E-leadership on Virtual Team Performance Empirical Study. International Journal of Business Applied Social Sciences, 5, 21-36.

2. Birchall, D., & Giambona, G. (2007). SME manager development in virtual learning communities and the role of trust: A conceptual study. Human Resource Development International, 10(2), 187-202.

3. Chen, G., Kirkman, B. L., Kanfer, R., Allen, D., & Rosen, B. (2007). A multilevel study of leadership, empowerment, and performance in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 331-346.

4. Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E. & Zampieri, R. (2019). The role of leadership in a digitalized world: a review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 19-38.

5. Day, D. V. & Antonakis, J. (2012). The nature of leadership (2e éd.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

6. Graeber, D. (2018). Bullshit Jobs. Paris, Les liens qui libèrent.

7. Heller, R. & Hindle, T. (1998). Essential Manager’s Manual. DK edition. 

8. Inyang, A. E., Agnihotri, R. & Munoz, L. (2018). The role of manager leadership style in salesperson implementation of sales strategy: a contingency perspective. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 33 (8), 1074-1086.

9. Lee, A., Willis, S. & Tian, A. W. (2017). Empowering leadership: A meta‐analytic examination of

10. Incremental contribution, mediation, and moderation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 1-20.

11. Lord, G. D. & Lord, B. (2009). The Manual of Museum Management. Altamira Press

12. Plane, J. M. (2015). Théories du leadership. Modèles classiques et contemporains. Paris, Dunod.

13. Sharma, P. N. & Kirkman, B. L. (2015). Leveraging leaders: A literature review and future lines of inquiry for empowering leadership research. Group & Organization Management, 40(2), 193-237.

14. Tremblay, D.-G. & Scaillerez, A. (2020). Coworking spaces: new places for business initiatives? Journal of Innovation Economics & Management, 3, 39-67.

15. Van Wart, M., Roman, A., Wang, X. & Liu, C. (2019). Operationalizing the definition of e-leadership: identifying the elements of e-leadership. International Review of Administration Sciences, 85, 80-97.

16. Vecchio, R. P., Justin, J. E. & Pearce, C. L. (2010). Empowering leadership: An examination of mediating mechanisms within a hierarchical structure. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(3), 530-542.

17. Wong, S. I. & Kuvaas, B. (2018). The empowerment expectation-perception gap: An examination of three alternative models. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(2), 272-287.

18.Zaleznik, A. (1977). Managers and Leaders: Are They Different? Harvard Business Review, 44, 67-78.

EMBLEMATIC BOOKS OR RESEARCH PAPERS REGARDING THE SUBJECT OF THE COURSE

1.    Blake, R., & Mouton, J. (1964). The Managerial Grid: The Key to Leadership Excellence. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Company.

2.    Drucker, P. (2020). The practice of management. Harper Business. Last edition.

3.    Fayol, H. (1916). Les multiples facettes d’un manager. Histoire, sciences et sociétés. Presses des Mines.

4.    Fayol, H. (1916). L’administration générale industrielle. Dunod. 

5.    Ford, H. & Crowther, S. (2025). My Life and Work. Aeterna edition. Last edition. 

6.    Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science. Selected theoretical paper. New York, Harper.

7.    Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396.

8.    Taylor, F. W. (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. Dover Pubn Inc.

9.    Thévenet, M. (2002). L’implication au travail. Dumas éditions. 

TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS OF IAELYON FACULTY ON THE SUBJECT OF THE COURSE  

1.    Laborie, C., Bernard, N. & Monnier, A. (2023). Well-being on teleworking: do we still need a supervisor? RIPCO, 29, 121-149.

2.    Laborie C., Desmarais, C., Abord de Chatillon, E. & Jeoffrion, C. (2025). The benefits of an enabling managerial control style in a teleworking situation. A latent profile analysis. European Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2024.12.005
 

1) Collective TD 
Answer to questions after watching a video or reading a text. 
Durant all TD

2) QCM
MCQ on all the lessons covered in class.
2h during the last CM lesson

3) Final exam 
Three questions about CM lessons and a composition exercise. 
2h during the exam period

Weight: Collective TD (25%), QCM (25%) and final exam (50%). 

TEACHING METHODS

The teaching method for this course is based on a combination of lectures (CM) and tutorials (TD) that allow students to apply the knowledge acquired during the lectures.

NATURE OF MATERIALS

Lectures (CM) will be based on PowerPoint presentations summarizing all the knowledge students are expected to have acquired by the end of the course, as well as figures, tables, and graphs to facilitate the understanding of complex management concepts.
 
Tutorials (TD) will be based on official, media, and scientific documents, in text or video format, which cover the elements and concepts seen during the CM and allow students to apply their knowledge and demonstrate their ability to critically analyze the situations presented through these materials.

PRE-REQUISITES IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

This course does not require any prior knowledge or skills, as it is an introduction to the main principles of management, aimed at bachelor's degree students who have never studied management before. However, it is preferable that students have a basic knowledge of contemporary Western history and keep up to date with current affairs in the world of work.
 
Students must also be able to analyze documents (videos and texts) critically and present their analyses in a structured manner.