Question

Explain the following principles of management by Fayol:
(a) Unity of command
(b) order.

Answer 1

Henri Fayol was a French Management Theorist who developed general theory of business administration that is called Fayolism. He proposed five primary functions of management and fourteen principles of management. Unity of command and order falls under those fourteen principles of management.

Unity of command:

It means getting orders from a supervisor or on behalf of a supervisor. Accordingly, there should be only one supervisor for a subordinate. The link between the supervisor and the subordinate should be direct. If two or more supervisors are there for a subordinate there might be conflict of interest, uneasiness, confusion as well as dilemma. Such things are a direct influence to the overall efficiency, productivity and ultimate goal of an organisation.

Order:

It means the arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method. Now if we look at it from the perspective of a company, a company promotes order so that there is a smooth flow of operations. His principle talks about two kinds of orders: material and social. Material order means the right arrangement for the physical resources of a company; a proper place for everything so that there is no confusion while finding the material hence there will be less wastage of time and efforts. Social order means that there should be a proper arrangement for the employees meaning a seat or a cabin..