In earlier writing,Fayol noted the importance of managerial ability to organizational performance.If management was important,then why did schools and universities neglect management tot focus on teaching technical skills? The answer,according to Fayol was the absence of management theory.Fayol defined theory as"a collection of principles,rules,methods,and procedures tried and checked by general experience."Writing from long experience,he noted that a lot of managers theorized,but that in practice there existed many contradictions and little systematic reflection.This state of confusion made it more difficult to teach and practice management because managers'experience were localized and not easily generalized to other managers or student of management (Wren,1994,pp.182-183)