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
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