14 Principles of Management
According to
Henry Fayol management has
14 principles. Henry Fayol listed the 14 principles of management as follows:
- Specialization of labor.
Specializing encourages continuous improvement in skills and the
development of improvements in methods.
- Authority. The
right to give orders and the power to exact obedience.
- Discipline. No
slacking, bending of rules.
- Unity of command.
Each employee has one and only one boss.
- Unity of direction.
A single mind generates a single plan and all play their part in
that plan.
- Subordination of
Individual Interests. When at work, only work things should
be pursued or thought about.
- Remuneration.
Employees receive fair payment for services, not what the company
can get away with.
- Centralization.
Consolidation of management functions. Decisions are made from the
top.
- Scalar Chain (line of
authority). Formal chain of command running from top to
bottom of the organization, like military
- Order. All
materials and personnel have a prescribed place, and they must
remain there.
- Equity. Equality
of treatment (but not necessarily identical treatment)
- Personnel Tenure.
Limited turnover of personnel. Lifetime employment for good workers.
- Initiative.
Thinking out a plan and do what it takes to make it happen.
- Esprit de corps.
Harmony, cohesion among personnel.
Out of the 14, the most important
elements are specialization, unity of command, scalar chain, and,
coordination by managers (an amalgam of authority and unity of
direction).
Henry Fayol synthesised 14 principles
for organisational design and effective administration. It is worthwhile
reflecting on these are comparing the conclusions to contemporary
utterances by Peters, Kanter and Handy to name but three management
gurus. Fayol's 14 principles are:
1. Specialisation/division of labour
A principle of work allocation and specialisation in order to
concentrate activities to enable specialisation of skills and
understandings, more work focus and efficiency.
2. Authority with corresponding
responsibility
If responsibilities are allocated then the post holder needs the
requisite authority to carry these out including the right to
require others in the area of responsibility to undertake duties.
Authority stems from:
- that ascribed from the
delegation process (the job holder is assigned to act as the
agent of the high authority to whom they report - hierarchy)
- allocation and permission to
use the necessary resources needed (budgets, assets, staff) to
carry out the responsibilities.
- selection - the person has the
expertise to carry out the responsibilities and the personal
qualities to win the support and confidence of others.
The R = A correspondence is
important to understand. R = A enables accountability in the
delegation process. Who do we cope with situations where R > A? Are
there work situations where our R< A?
"judgement demands high moral
character, therefore, a good leader should possess and infuse into
those around him courage to accept responsibility. The best
safeguard against abuse of authority and weakness on the part of a
higher manager is personal integrity and particularly high moral
character of such a manager ..... this integrity, is conferred
neither by election nor ownership. " 1916
A manager should never be given
authority without responsibility--and also should never be given
responsibility without the associated authority to get the work
done.
3. Discipline
The generalisation about discipline is
that discipline is essential for the smooth running of a business
and without it - standards, consistency of action, adherence to
rules and values - no enterprise could prosper.
"in an essence - obedience,
application, energy, behaviour and outward marks of respect observed
in accordance with standing agreements between firms and its
employees " 1916
4. Unity of Command
The idea is that an employee should
receive instructions from one superior only. This generalisation
still holds - even where we are involved with team and matrix
structures which involve reporting to more than one boss - or being
accountable to several clients. The basic concern is that tensions
and dilemmas arise where we report to two or more bosses. One boss
may want X, the other Y and the subordinate is caught between the
devil and the deep blue sea.
5. Unity of Direction
The unity of command idea of having
one head (chief executive, cabinet consensus) with agree purposes
and objectives and one plan for a group of activities) is clear.
6. Subordination of individual
interest to the general interest
Fayol's line was that one employee's interests or those of one group
should not prevail over the organisation as a whole. This would
spark a lively debate about who decides that the interests of the
organisation as a whole are. Ethical dilemmas and matters of
corporate risk and the behaviour of individual "chancers" are
involved here. Fayol's work - assumes a shared set of values by
people in the organisation - a unitarism where the reasons for
organisational activities and decisions are in some way neutral and
reasonable.
7. Remuneration of staff
The general principle is that
levels of compensation should be "fair" and as far as possible
afford satisfaction both to the staff and the firm (in terms of its
cost structures and desire for profitability/surplus).
8. Centralisation
Centralisation for HF is essential to
the organisation and a natural consequence of organising. This issue
does not go away even where flatter, devolved organisations occur.
Decentralisation - is frequently centralisaed-decentralisation !!!
The modes of control over the actions and results of devolved
organisations are still matters requiring considerable attention.
9. Scalar chain/line of authority
The scalar chain of command of
reporting relationships from top executive to the ordinary shop
operative or driver needs to be sensible, clear and understood.
10. Order
The level of generalisation becomes
difficult with this principle. Basically an organisation "should"
provide an orderly place for each individual member - who needs to
see how their role fits into the organisation and be confident, able
to predict the organisations behaviour towards them. Thus policies,
rules, instructions and actions should be understandable and
understood. Orderliness implies steady evolutionary movement rather
than wild, anxiety provoking, unpredictable movement.
11. Equity
Equity, fairness and a sense of
justice "should"pervade the organisation - in principle and
practice.
12. Stability of tenure
Time is needed for the employee to
adapt to his/her work and perform it effectively. Stability of
tenure promotes loyalty to the organisation, its purposes and
values.
13. Initiative
At all levels of the organisational
structure, zeal, enthusiasm and energy are enabled by people having
the scope for personal initiative. (Note: Tom Peters recommendations
in respect of employee empowerment)
14. Esprit de Corps
Here, Fayol emphasises the need for
building and maintaining of harmony among the work force , team work
and sound interpersonal relationships.
In the same way that Alfred P Sloan,
the executive head of General Motors reorganised the company into
semi-autonomous divisions in the 1920s, corporations undergoing
reorganisation still apply "classical organisation" principles - very
much in line with Fayol's recommendations.
References
http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/fayol.htm |
