14 General Principles of Management

Scientific management was primarily concerned with increasing the efficiency of individual workers at the shop floor. It did not give adequate attention to role of managers and their functions. However, around the same time Henry Fayol, director of a coal mining company in France made a systematic analysis of the process of management.

He strongly felt that managers should be guided by certain principles, and evolved 14 general principles of management which are still considered important in management. These are:

Division of Work: This principle suggests that work should be assigned to a person for which he is best suited. Work should be divided into compact jobs to be assigned to individuals. This facilitates specialisation and improves efficiency.
Authority and Responsibility: Responsibility means the work assigned to any person, and authority means rights that are given to him to manage people and things to ensure performance. In other words, authority should go hand in hand with the responsibility for effective results.
Discipline: This principle emphasises that subordinates should respect their superiors and obey their orders. On the other hand, superiors’ behaviour should be such that they make subordinates obedient. If such discipline is observed, there will be no problem of industrial disputes.
Unity of Command: A subordinate should work under the supervision of one superior only from whom he gets instructions and to whom he is accountable. It avoids confusion in authority and instructions.
Unity of Direction: Each group of activities having the same objective must have one head and one plan of action. Otherwise, there may be wastage, over expenditure and useless rivalry among the managers.
Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest: While taking any decision, the collective good and collective interest of the organisation as a whole should be preferred to individual interests. The individual’s interest should be subordinated to the overall interest of the organisation. This ensures welfare of the organisation as well as its individual members.
Remuneration: Management should try to give fair wages to the employees so as to ensure reasonable satisfaction of workers and productivity for the organisation.
Centralisation: When a single person controls the affairs of an organisation, it is said to be complete centralisation. In small concerns, a single manager can supervise the work of the subordinates easily, while in a big organisation, control is divided among a number of persons to facilitate operational decision making at various levels. Fayol’s opinion was that there should be a proper balance between centralisation and delegation of authority in an organisation.
Scalar Chain: This is the chain of authority relationship from the highest to the lowest ranks. This implies that subordinates report to their immediate supervisors who, in turn, report directly to their own boss. The order of this chain should be maintained when some instructions are to be passed on or enquiries are to be made.
Order: Placement of men and materials should be properly made. Proper space should be made available where materials can be kept safely. Each man should be provided the work for which he is best suited.
Equity: This principle requires the managers to be kind and just to workers. This promotes a friendly atmosphere between superiors and subordinates and motivates them to perform their duties efficiently.
Stability of Tenure: Employees should be provided stability and continuity of their tenure of employment. There should not be frequent termination of employees. This could be achieved through attractive remuneration and honourable treatment of personnel.
Initiative: This implies encouraging initiative among its personnel to chalking out and execution of a plan to achieve the desired results.
Esprit de Corps: These French words mean team spirit. Managers should infuse the spirit of team work and cooperation among the employees. It helps in developing an atmosphere of mutual trust and a sense of unity.

Fayol made it clear that these principles can be applied to most organisations, but these are not absolute principles. Organisations are at liberty to adopt those which suit them or to delete a few according to their needs.