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What are the 14 Principles of Management? Description
The 14 Management Principles from Henri Fayol (1841-1925) are:
- Division of Work. Specialization allows the individual to build
up experience, and to continuously improve his skills. Thereby he can be
more productive.
- Authority. The right to issue commands, along with which must
go the balanced responsibility for its function.
- Discipline. Employees must obey, but this is two-sided: employees
will only obey orders if management play their part by providing good leadership.
- Unity of Command. Each worker should have only one boss with
no other conflicting lines of command.
- Unity of Direction. People engaged in the same kind of activities
must have the same objectives in a single plan. This is essential to ensure
unity and coordination in the enterprise. Unity of command does not exist
without unity of direction but does not necessarily flows from it.
- Subordination of individual interest (to the general interest).
Management must see that the goals of the firms are always paramount.
- Remuneration. Payment is an important motivator although by analyzing
a number of possibilities, Fayol points out that there is no such thing
as a perfect system.
- Centralization (or Decentralization). This is a matter of degree
depending on the condition of the business and the quality of its personnel.
- Scalar chain (Line of Authority). A hierarchy is necessary for
unity of direction. But lateral communication is also fundamental, as long
as superiors know that such communication is taking place. Scalar chain
refers to the number of levels in the hierarchy from the ultimate authority
to the lowest level in the organization. It should not be over-stretched
and consist of too-many levels.
- Order. Both material order and social order are necessary. The
former minimizes lost time and useless handling of materials. The latter
is achieved through organization and selection.
- Equity. In running a business a ‘combination of kindliness and
justice’ is needed. Treating employees well is important to achieve equity.
- Stability of Tenure of Personnel. Employees work better if job
security and career progress are assured to them. An insecure tenure and
a high rate of employee turnover will affect the organization adversely.
- Initiative. Allowing all personnel to show their initiative in
some way is a source of strength for the organization. Even though it may
well involve a sacrifice of ‘personal vanity’ on the part of many managers.
- Esprit de Corps. Management must foster the morale of its employees.
He further suggests that: “real talent is needed to coordinate effort, encourage
keenness, use each person’s abilities, and reward each one’s merit without
arousing possible jealousies and disturbing harmonious relations.”
What is Management? Five elements
Fayol's definition of management roles and actions distinguishes between
Five Elements:
- Prevoyance. (Forecast & Plan). Examining the future and drawing
up a plan of action. The elements of strategy.
- To organize. Build up the structure, both material and human,
of the undertaking.
- To command. Maintain the activity among the personnel.
- To coordinate. Binding together, unifying and harmonizing all
activity and effort.
- To control. Seeing that everything occurs in conformity with
established rule and expressed command.
Origin of the 14 Principles of Management. History
Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was a French management theorist whose theories
in management and organization of labor were widely influential in the beginning
of 20th century. He was a mining engineer who worked for a French mining company
Commentry-Fourchamboult-Decazeville, first as an engineer. Then he moved into
general management and became Managing Director from 1888 to 1918. During
his tenure as Managing Director he wrote various articles on 'administration'
and in 1916 the Bulletin de la Société de l’ Industrie Minérale, printed his
"Administration, Industrielle et Générale – Prévoyance, Organisation, Commandement,
Coordination, Contrôle". In 1949 the first English translation appeared:
‘General and Industrial Management’ by Constance Storrs.
Usage of the 14 Management Principles. Applications
- Change and Organization.
- Decision-making.
- Skills. Can be used to improve the basic effectiveness of a manager.
- Understand that management can be seen as a variety of activities, which
can be listed and grouped.
Book: Henri Fayol
- General and Industrial Management -

Principles of Management Special Interest Group

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Recent User Comments
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Professor AL ABDALLAOUI Lafdil - Morocco - Casablanca
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Principles of Management |
"Management is theories and know how learning. The essence is that we never copy a used system with good results. We must make an effort to manage the current environment, based on its values and principles.
Let's look for example to our mother, when we ask her to prepare bread. In order to realize this small project, she creates a small manufacturing. She has the budget, she buys the raw material, she has the equipment, she has the know-how, and qualified for time management, the follow up, the patience, total quality and HR management, finally she works with a great emotion, asking if my son is still hungry... These are the real bases of management. If we develop this small system which is a reference of Mother, and multiply it by 1000, we can manage a multinational company. Finally if we develop this theory, we can find the 14 principles of management." |
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Esther Sarfoh - Ghana
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Equity and Respect |
"Some managers look down on people who are not skilled, but at the end of the day they contribute to the objectives of an organisation. Managers should know these people also deserve to be treated well and paid reasonably." |
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Pramita Chakraborty - India
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Question |
"Esperit de corps is quite difficult to understand. can u make it a bit easier to understand with much more explainations?" |
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- India
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Ethics and Values |
"We all have been fortunate to have the basic principle of management as spelled out by Henri Fayol. In the present scene also they are applicable. What I have noticed is that importance is being given to change, stress, assertiveness and so on but not very much is talked about ethics and values. If these are are adhered to in letter and spirit the why should we at all have any problems in management?" |
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Eric Macauley - Sierra Leone
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Remuneration |
"In as much as remuneration serves as a significant push towards employees giving their best, one must bear in mind that it is not the only source of motivation. Hence, management must be aware and device other ways of motivating workers.eg,a tap on the back, quarterly retreats or outings,recognizing hard work etc.This is because its a little difficult in determining what motivate workers." |
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Best User Comments
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Shillingi - Tanzania
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14 Management Principles still Relevant |
"Despite being challenged by various scholars, these principles from Fayol are still relevant in many organisations in Tanzania, what we are doing is just refining those principles in order to suit our environment and real cultural situations in our organisations." |
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Rebant - India
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What is Management? |
"Management... Indeed is a great learning and makes many things easy in their own way. Decision-making, organizing, co-ardinating & work not least are the components which come together in management. A great learning for all times: "MANAGEMENT"" |
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Abdi - somaliland
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Management requires patience |
"I think managers must be more patient than anybody else in the world, because when making a decision they don't just make a choice such as how cookers do in the kitchen." |
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Ammini - Malaysia
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What is organisational hierarchy? |
"Describe the key management roles and discuss why some roles are considered to be more important or less important at different levels of the organisational hierarchy." |
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Dianne - Belgium
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The 10 Principles of Urwick |
"Similar and well-known are the 10 Principles of Organisation by Lyndall Urwick. According to Urwick (Notes on the Theory of Organization, 1952), an organisation is built on ten principles:
1. The principle of the objective - Every organisation and every part of the organisation must be an expression of the
purpose of the undertaking concerned, or it is eaningless and therefore redundant.
2. The principle of specialisation - The activities of every member of any organised group should be confined, as far as possible, to the performance of a single function.
3. The principle of co-ordination - The purpose of organising per se, as distinguished from the purpose of the undertaking, is to facilitate co-ordination: unity of effort.
4. The principle of authority - In every organised group the supreme authority must rest somewhere. There should
be a clear line of authority to every individual in the group." |
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osas eg - Nigeria
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Comments |
"These principles are very efficient and they serve as the best principles ever developed for carrying out effective management activities." |
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Mato - Kenya
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Evolution of Management |
"The way management is evolving keeps managers on their feet. Everyday brings a new management method. As a result the way we manage today you'll be surprised will change by the year 2010." |
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Jay - Philippines
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Risks |
"what are the risks in the 14 principles of management?" |
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Arijit - India
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Good and bad managers... |
"Why don't all managers follow the principles of management?? Still they become managers?? Why?? How??" |
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Sam Ebeke - Nigeria
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Scalar Chain |
"These 14 principles are evergreen management concepts. An overstretched scalar chain can make an organisation blind to young and up-coming talents down there un-noticed. No matter how big an organisation is, the number 1 man should not be completely out-of-reach of the number last. That is management..." |
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