Abstract
The article aims to analyze the relationship between Fayolism and Claude Bernard’s experimental method, a method Fayol argued to be based on for the elaboration of his magnum opus. The study used the history of administrative science methodologically based on the internal analysis of the authors’ texts. The findings suggest divergences between Fayolism and the experimental method, besides evidence of the period of Fayol’s itinerary in which he would, in fact and belatedly, have had direct contact with Bernard’s work. The main conclusion is that there is strong evidence to suggest that Fayol did an unsystematic study of Bernard and only really proceeded with the study after 1916, the year of his main work, and could not have practiced the method to which he said he adhered.
Keywords:
Henri Fayol; Experimental method; Claude Bernard; History of administrative science