Management of a business or anything in which the human resource is working is a difficult task. And we have to listen to the experts when it comes to management. Today we are going to discuss the same thing, I am talking about the 14 Principles of Management proposed by Henri Fayol.
If you want to know more about Henri Fayol, then you can follow this link to Wikipedia page where you can read about him.
Henri Fayol is the person who has proposed or created these Principles of Management. These were originally written in the French language.
But now these 14 principles of management are available in English. And I am sure that these are also available in other languages too.
If you want to read them in your own language other than English then you can search for it on Google. You can find the resource for that online using Google.
So now let us get started and check out the fayol 14 principles one by one.
14 Principles of Management by Henri Fayol
So here are the principles of management which are proposed by Henri Fayol. We all refer these to do the management smoothly.
And for that reason at least we have to thank Henri Fayol with all due respect.
1) Division of Work
In any organization or company, there are a number of works. And the main thing around which this principle revolves is the work.
It is impossible for an individual to perform all the works or tasks of the organization. And this is the main reason why the work should be divided.
The division of work is very important to divide the work between the employees working in the organization. But it is equally important to divide it in a proper way.
Thinking what is the proper way?
I will tell you what it is.
Once the work is divided in the organization it should be allocated to the person with the right knowledge to perform the work.
If the work is product marketing but if you allocate the work to a person who does not have any knowledge about it. Then he will end up spoiling the work.
So you have to give that work to someone who has the right knowledge about the product that your company is manufacturing. And of course, that person should have knowledge about marketing.
And this is what the proper way of division of work is.
2) Authority and Responsibility
The next thing which we are going to know is the authority and responsibility. Once the work is divided and is allocated to the person with adequate knowledge.
What will the person need to complete the allotted work?
The answer is he needs the authority to get the work done and this has to be delegated from the top level management.
The top-level management of the organization needs to give him the authority. And here the authority means the powers to give the order to the people who are working under him.
Think that you have allocated some work to your manager and you want to get that work done within the proper time period.
It is quite obvious that your manager needs to authority to give the orders to the people who are working under him. If he doesn’t have that authority then his subordinates are not going to work.
This is why Henri Fayol has mentioned about the delegation of authority in his principles of management.
So the next thing is the responsibility which has to be given to the employees after giving the authority. Here the responsibility is the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something.
The person who has to do the work should be liable and responsible for that work.
According to Henri Fayol, authority and responsibility go hand in hand.
3) Discipline
The third principle of management is the discipline, which should be maintained in all the departments of the organization.
All the people who are working in any company or organization should maintain discipline. Let me break down the meaning or discipline in management for you.
Discipline is all about obeying the orders which are given to them by their superiors. They should come to the working place in time and follow all the rules and regulations which are framed by the organization.
The discipline should be maintained by all three levels of management and they are top-level management, middle-level management, and lower level management.
4) Unity of Command
The next principle of management which we are going to know about and the one which is proposed by Henri Fayol is Unity of Command.
Unity of Command as the name of the principle only tells us that the command should be united.
Let me tell you this is more simple words.
The command which the employee receives in the organization should receive orders from a single person only. If the employee receives the work orders from a number of superiors.
Then whose orders should he follow?
Will it be more confusing and disturbing to the employee right?
Yes, it will be and that is the reason why this principle has to be followed by the organizations. You can look at the image illustration above in which the employee is receiving the order from many superiors.
And now look at the image illustration above in which the employee is receiving the order from only one superior. It will be easy for him to follow the orders and perform his work.
5) Unity of Direction
The fifth one which we are going to read this list of principles of management is the Unity of Direction. Just now in the last part, we have discussed the unity of command in which the employees should receive the commands from a single person.
This one is similar to the last one, the difference is the last one was about the orders and this one deals with the direction.
The direction towards which the organization is working. In any organization, there are a number of departments like marketing department, production department etc.
All these departments are formed once the division of work is done.
Now we have different departments which are working for a whole different thing.
Thinking how?
Let me tell you, the marketing department will focus only on the marketing objectives of the organization. At the same time, the production department will focus only on the objectives related to the production.
What this principle tells us is even when the objectives or the direction towards different departments are working. They all should be focused on the main objective of the organization.
All those departments should not only focus on their own objectives but also focus towards the main objective of the organization.
After all, the whole organization including all the departments will be working for achieving the main goals and objectives of the organization.
And these objectives will be predefined by the top level management.
6) Subordination of Individual Interest
So now we are reading the sixth principle of management. It is the subordination of individual interest, this one is considered as one of the most important principles.
According to this principle, all the employees who are working in an organization will have their own sets of interests. Those interests can be personal or professional.
We are management people so we are not much interested in the personal interest which our employees have. But we need to take care of the professional interests which they have.
According to Henri Fayol, the top level management of any organization has to bring to individual interest to the general interest.
This principle is also called as the “Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest”.
Here the general interest is about the objectives and goals of the organization. The top-level management has to bring up the general interest of the organization in the mind of the employees.
It is all because the employees can be more creative at the work if they take the organizational interest into their mind.
7) Remuneration
Remuneration is the thing which all the employees working in any organization needs. They work for the remuneration and in simple words, it is nothing but the salary which the organization pays to them.
Salary or remuneration is very important to motivate the employees to work for the organization. If the employees are getting enough salary the creativity level and interest they show in work will be very high.
The high the creativity of the employees the more benefit for the organization.
According to Henri Fayol, the employees should be paid proper salary. For example, if the employee is marketing manager then he should be paid the salary which is proper for his designation.
When the employees are not paid proper salary they lose the interest in the work and it will be adverse to the organization’s progress.
Henri Fayol, also mentioned that they should be paid on the fixed date. The employees should receive it without any delay.
8) Centralization
When we are running any organization or business we have to take many decisions isn’t it? Yes, we have to take a number of decisions.
But who should take the decisions?
According to Henri Fayol, the power to take the important decisions in the organization should be vested only in the hands of the top-level management.
They should not allow the employees working in the middle or lower level management to take the important decisions.
This does not mean that the employees other than top-level management do not have any decision making powers. They do have but the ones which will affect the working of the organization the most should not be taken by them.
Let me give you few examples to support this principle.
Example 1:
Consider you are the managing director of your company and your company needs a new building. Then would you allow your middle and lower level employees to take the decision about the building work?
Think about it for a movement. 🙂
I am very sure that your answer will be NO. You will not allow them to take this decision because this includes huge expense and you would take it by your own expertise.
Example 2:
Same as the first example, even here you are the managing director of your company and you are manufacturing paper books.
It is very obvious that you will need raw paper which you will be using to manufacture the paper books. Now your contract with the supplier of the raw paper is going to expire soon.
So you now have two options and they are you need to renew the contract or need to find a new supplier who will supply for less price.
This kind of decisions has to be made by the top level management itself. Henri Fayol has described the same with this principle.
You can read in detail about centralization by following this link.
9) Scalar Chain
Once the organization or company is established and all the required personnel is appointed to work for the organization.
It is very important to frame and declare a clear hierarchy of authority of all the employees. This will help them to get clear about the authorities which they have and can enjoy.
10) Order
The 10th one which we have in the list of 14 Principles of Management is Order. This principle is very simple and it just says that there should be a proper order for all the work that is done in the organization or company. No work or tasks should be performed without proper order.
11) Equity
Even this is one of the most important principles of management and that is Equity. This is not only important in the management but it is important in all the fields.
According to Henri Fayol, all the employees who are working in the organization should be treated kindly and equally.
There should be no discrimination between the employees who are working for the organization. In case of any misconduct, the equal punishment should be given to the employees.
Even if that employee is from top-level management or lower level management they all should be given equal punishment.
12) Stability of Tenure of Personnel
This is much needed by any of the employees either he or she is working for the organization or going to join it. Because no matter who the person is he would like to have to good security or stability for the job.
For example, if you are going to join any of the company for the job. You will wish to continue the job for a long time and you will not like to leave the job sooner.
Henri Fayol, says that there should be the stability of working tenure of the people who are working for the company. If the employee turn over rate is high it will not good for the company or employee.
13) Initiative
According to Henri Fayol, the employees working in the organization should be allowed to talk about the ideas they have in their mind.
It will help the organization to take initiative in the work. This will encourage the employees to be more creative and will make them show more interest in the work.
14) Esprit de Corps
So this is the last one which we have in the list of 14 principles of management by Henri Fayol. And it is Esprit de Crops.
What this principle tells us is Unity is Spirit and it is much needed between the employees working in the organization.
If there is any kind of misunderstanding between the employees then the management should take proper steps to clear those misunderstandings.
Multi-media About the Principles of Management
You can watch this YouTube video for more in-depth details about the 14 Principles of Management by Henri Fayol. I decided to add these in my article because multi-media objects make it easier to understand. 🙂
The video credit goes to Easy MBA YouTube Channel.
You can even use this slide which is embedded below.
Conclusion
So these are 14 principles of management by Henri Fayol. I hope you are clear with all the details and information mentioned in this article. If you have any kind of doubts or suggestions which can improve this article please comment below.