Introduction An organization basically comprises of people drawn from various backgrounds and cultures. Different organizations also operate using different structures, systems and technologies. Therefore, managers face the challenge of managing the people working in the organization as well as the activities in the organization. To address such challenges, managers refer to the management practices suggested by theorists such as Jules Henri Fayol’s management practices. Although some scholars such as Frederick Taylor differed with Fayol on the applicability of a set of principles to all organizations, Fayol believed that a common type of management would work for all organizations. This paper shall look at some of the management principles proposed by Fayol and their applicability in the contemporary management practices. The paper shall conclude that these practices are still applicable in the contemporary organizations. Classical management theory Mclean (2011) views an organization as an entity that is made up of complex structures. It is the duty of the human resources managers to ensure that only qualified people are recruited to work for the organization. Human resources managers are also expected to allocate resources in the best way possible. They are also in charge of coordinating various activities within the organization in order for everything to run smoothly. Henri Fayol is one of the first people to explore the area of management and develop theories about it. The principles he suggested are still useful to the contemporary management practices. His theories have been very useful to managers in the smooth running of organizations. However, his theories have also been critiqued by various scholars for example Michael Porter. Henri Fayol’s theories were widely accepted at the time when they were introduced because it was a period of massive change as people moved from an agrarian to an industrial society (Mclean 2011). Consequently, there was need for people in factories to know how run manage these factories so that efficiency and effectiveness could be increased. Henri Fayol’s classical management theory was very useful at this stage. The theory was developed after a period of practical experience, observation as well as personal insights. Role of managers According to Mclean (2011), Fayol proposes that managers are supposed to oversee that running of the organization to ensure that everything is done in the right manner. Although this theory was proposed in the 1900’s, it remains one of the most useful theories in the contemporary management practices. The theory is particularly useful because of its wide acceptability in the management of organizations. In his theory, Fayol suggests five functions namely: to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate, and to control (Bagad 2008). These have been very useful in the contemporary management practices. Henri Fayol is believed to be one of the theorists that have left a permanent mark on the history of management. However, managers have the discretion to interpret, apply and also critique Fayol’s theory depending with the context they are in. Most of the books dealing with management present Fayol’s work alongside other theorists, the most common