Henry Fayol | devilwearsprada

Fayol Hates Prada

A letter to Miranda Priestly of Runway Magazine

Dear Miranda Priestly,

The management at runway magazine is awful. You, Miranda who claims herself queen of the kingdom of clothes do not have a planning bone in your body. I swear you never look even an hour ahead of what you are doing next. All of runway magazines employees work twice as hard to pick up all the slack you have been leaving behind. The elements of management (which you have obviously chosen to ignore) should tell you five things.

One, plan ahead and look to the future (Planning, Elements of Management). Which I see you need some work on. I mean I think the reason Emily and Andy and everyone else working under you at Runway are all so stick thin because all they do is run. Run for coffee, run for scarfs (and get hit by cabs), when was the last time you ran?

Two, organize your employees to work to their best capabilities and work towards quality (Organizing, Elements of Management). Andy had no idea what she was doing the first few days or even weeks after because maybe she was never properly trained? You can’t expect greatness right away you have to invest in your employees.

One good thing I have to say about you is that you at least can properly give out tasks to your employees! That’s why the third area of management is command people to do things so you can reach goals set by the organization (Command, Elements of Management).

Fourth area of management is coordination and without the help of your trusty sidekicks Nigel and Emily the organization would be chaos (Coordination, Elements of Management). You must coordinate with the rest of the company to reach your goal. I don’t believe you once talked to someone other than who is of importance or value to the company. Coordination is key, Miranda Priestly! Maybe it is time to take off those Jimmy Choo’s and try on some Keds. Talk to someone “below you” you might learn something valuable.

Is runway working the way it should be? Is there a better way to do things, a faster way? The last element of my theory is control (Control, Elements of Management). Miranda, when was the last time you had a sit down with all the department heads to make changes. It looks like things have settled into a good place; I’m not saying runway doesn’t function well. Things get done, and for the most part on time but it’s time to ask yourself if it is the best way of doing things.

The reason I believe you lost Andy in the end was because she was doing this for herself. She wanted to be a writer. My theory is that you have to work for the goals of the organization, not for one’s own individual interests (Miller 23). Andy was never interested in fashion but she took the job anyway for her own individual gain. She never cared for fashion she cared where it would get her.

If you dare to finish my letter I hope you take my words into consideration.

Bon Voyage, Henri Fayol