HENRY FAYOL’S PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT AND HOW THEY CAN BE UTILIZED TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

HENRY FAYOL’S PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT AND HOW THEY CAN BE UTILIZED TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

A principle may be defined as fundamental statement of basic truth that provides a guide to thought and action. Principles of management originate and grow as a result of past experience and accomplishments. Among the reasons why we need principles of management include improving efficiency, crystalline the nature of management, improving research and also to attain social goals. Henry Fayol was born in Istanbul in 1841 and through the years, he began to develop what he considered to be the 14 most important principles of management. Essentially, these explained how managers should organize and interact with staff. The purpose of this paper therefore is to outline the principles of management by Henry Fayol and also to discuss how each of the principles can be utilized to promote effective management and productivity of educational organization.

The first principle he came up with was the division of work. The principle proposed that work can be performed more efficiently and more productively if it is divided into smaller elements and assigning specific elements to specific workers (Carl, 2001:880). The main idea behind was specialization where each employee is performing a specific task. This was actually opposed to generalization, where each employee was performing multiple tasks. There is an efficient result in the operational level when tasks, are distributed to qualified and competent workers or when people do specialize. For instance a subject teacher will contribute to increased productivity in a school if he is given to specifically teach what he or she is taught and it becomes very easy for management to supervise the teachers.

The second principle that he proposed was authority and responsibility where with formal authority managers have the right to command and give orders to their subordinates. The concepts of Authority and responsibility are closely related hence whosoever assumes authority also assumes responsibility. Whereas authority is seen as the right to give orders and the power to exact obedience, responsibility on the other hand involves being accountable (McAdams, 1988). In educational organisations, teachers are accountable for the pupils they teach hence administrators have to give teachers enough room to implement their responsibilities as they know them.

The principle of discipline being the third suggests that along with good supervisors at all levels of an organisation requires a set of clearly defined rules and procedures aimed at attaining good employee discipline and obedience (Carl, 2001:881). Good discipline can be achieved by having all agreement between the school organisation and the employed teachers stated in a clear and fair manner. This principle is essential and is seen as the oil to make the engine of an organization run smoothly. When all employees are disciplined, it means they follow the laid down rules and perform all their duties as supposed hence increasing productivity and promoting good management. Late reporting for working will be reduced in turn increasing time for teaching and performing other work related tasks.

The management principle of unity of command is the fourth and it meant that an individual employee should receive orders from one manager and that the employee is answerable to that manager. If tasks and related responsibilities are given to the employee by more than one manager, this may lead to confusion which may lead to possible conflicts for employees. This implies that any action whatsoever, an employee should receive orders from one boss only (Carl, 2001:882). In an educational institution, when orders are got from one person, the message reaches the intended person without any distortion hence improving on the productivity.  

The fifth principle is unity of direction and it meant that operations within any organization having the same objective must be directed by only one manager using one plan. In a department for example, there should not be two or more supervisors each having different policy to follow.  The manager is ultimately responsible for this plan and he monitors the progress of the defined and planned activities (Wren, Bedeian and Breeze, 2002). In an educational organisation, Heads of department gives direction related to school goals to teachers in his/her department hence all teachers follow it in turn achieving organizational goals.

Subordination of the Individual Interest to General interest is where the interests of one person should not take priority over the interests of the organization as a whole (Hodge, 2002).  This principle also means that individuals and small groups within the overall school organisations should make their needs secondary to those at the school. An individual may see things in one way but a large may see it in another way hence it is better to follow the majority if productivity is to be achieved.

Remuneration as one of the principles points to payment as important motivator in any organisation. Compensation for work done should be fair to both employees and employers and it should be sufficiently motivational. However, overtime there was the introduction of performance pay that was based on the notion that individual equity suggests that ‘better workers should receive higher wages on the same job than poor workers’ (Wallace and Fay, 1988:18). In an educational organisation when a teacher works had and he deserves to be paid, for instance salary related allowances, let him be paid as they will motivate him to even put more effort.

Centralization implies the concentration of decision making authority at the top management. Too much centralization and decentralization leads to ineffectiveness hence educational organizations should strive for a good balance in this area (Katz and Khan, 1966). In an educational institution, upper-level managers or administrators are not to make decisions alone but should consult lower level managers which may include senior teachers or heads of department by so doing it will promote management and productivity.

The other principle of management is the scalar chain. The principle is sometimes called hierarchy principle and it tells us that communication in organizations should be basically vertical; that is a single uninterrupted chain of authority should extend from the highest level to the lowest position in the organization (Carl, 2001:883). When information is uninterrupted, it reaches the intended recipients as clear as before hence what top management plans will be implemented by lower level employees even without the presence of managers.

Another principle of management is order and it implies both the order of material and social that is very necessary.  It also means the workplace facilities must be clean, tidy and safe for employees (Wren, Bedeian and Breeze, 2002). According to this principle, employees for instance teachers in an educational organization must have the right resources which may include books and other teaching and learning resources at their disposal so that they can deliver the lessons properly.

Equity is yet another principle which involves treating employees well which is very cardinal to achieving organizational goals. It also implies that managers should be fair to staff at all times, both maintaining discipline as necessary and acting with kindness where appropriate. The fairness may be a consequence of managers being kind and just toward their subordinates who will further lead to devoted and loyal service (Carl, 2001:884). When employees (teachers) in the school environment are treated fairly, they will put in their best which will turn increase productivity which in this implies better results and promote management.

The next principle is Stability of personnel tenure. This required managers to strive to minimize employee turnover and regard personnel planning to be a priority (Hodge, 2002). This also relates to unnecessary staff turnover which must be avoided at all cost. For instance, end of tenure due to old age, ill health, retirement, death which disturbs the human makeup of the firm. Management strive to minimise employee turnover and to have the right staff in the right place.

The principle of initiative or workers participation meant that employees are supposed to be given the necessary level of freedom to create and carry out plans. This principle allows workers to participate in the solving of problems and in the ruling of the organisation. This is where Fayol argued that employees should be allowed to express new ideas as this will encourage interest and involvement and creates added value for the company (Katz and Kahn, 1966). Employee initiatives are a source of strength for the educational organisation.

The Spirit de-corps (team spirit) principle signifies that employees should work as a team and management should not use divide and rule, instead management’s task should be to unite conflicting groups and individuals (Hodge, 2002). This therefore implies that educational organizations should strive to promote team spirit as well as unity. Managers are responsible for the development of morale in the workplace; individually and in the area of communication.

In summing up the 14 principles of management, they can be used to manage educational organisations and are useful tools for forecasting, planning, coordination, controlling, decision making, organizing, commanding and process management. The above outlined principles of management team spirit, employee initiatives, division of work, equity, unity of command and many others help to coordinate the material and human resources in order to achieve the desired goals or common objectives in an educational organisation. Without principles of management, there would be a lot of wastage of resources including time.

REFERENCES

Carl A. Rodrigues (2001), Fayol’s 14 principles of management then and now: A framework for managing today’s organizations effectively. Montclair State University, New Jersey.

Hodge, B. J. (2002). Organisation theory: a strategic approach. Pearson Education

Katz, D and Kahn, R. L. (1966), The Social Psychology of Organisations, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

McAdams, J. (1988), “Performance – based reward systems; towards a common fate environment”,Personnel Journal, June, pp.103-13.

Wren, D. A., Bedeian, A. G., Breeze, J. D. (2002). The foundations of Henri Fayol’s Administrative Theory. Management Decision, Vol. 40 Iss:9, pp.906-918.

Wallace, M.J. and Fay, C.H (1988), Compansation Theory and Practice, PWS-Kent, Boston, MA.