(1) Division of Work:
This principle of Fayol tells us that as far as possible the whole work should be divided into different parts and each individual should be assigned only one part of the work according to his ability and taste rather than giving the whole work to one person.
When a particular individual performs the same job repeatedly, he will become an expert in doing that particular part of the whole job. Consequently, the benefits of specialisation will become available.
For example, a furniture manufacturer gets an order for manufacturing 100 lecture stands. He has five workers who will do the job. There are two ways to complete this order. First, every worker should be asked to complete 20 lecture stands.
The second method can be distributing different parts of the lecture stand-legs, top board, centre support, assembling and polishing-to all the five workers in a manner that only one worker does the same job for all the 100 lecture stands. Here, Fayol’s indication is to the second way to do this job and not the former one.
The principle of division of labour applies not only to the workers but also equally to the managers. For example, if a manager is tuned to work on the same kind of activities for a long period of time, he will certainly be an expert in his particular job. Consequently, more and beneficial decisions can be taken in a comparatively less time by him.
Positive Effect advantages of specialisation are obtained, such as increase in the quality of work, increase in the speed of production, decrease in the wastage of resources.
Violating Effect the above-mentioned positive effects of specialisation will not be available.
(2) Authority and Responsibility:
According to this principle, authority and responsibility should go hand in hand. It means that when a particular individual is given a particular work and he is made responsible for the results, this can be possible only when he is given sufficient authority to discharge his responsibility.
It is not proper to make a person responsible for any work in the absence of authority. In the words of Fayol, “The result of authority is responsibility. It is the natural result of authority and essentially another aspect of authority and whenever authority is used, responsibility are automatically born.”
For example, the CEO of a company has doubled the sales target of the sales manager for the coming year. To achieve this target, authority for appointing necessary sales representatives, advertising according to the need, etc. shall have to be allowed. In case these things are not allowed the sales manager cannot be held responsible for not
(3) Discipline:
Discipline is essential for any successful work performance. Fayol considers discipline to mean obedience, respect for authority, and observance of established rules.
Discipline can be established by providing good supervision at all levels, clearly explaining the rules, and implementing a system of reward and punishment. A manager can present a good example to his subordinates by disciplining himself.
For example, if the employees break their promise of working up to their full capacity, it will amount to the violation of obedience. Similarly a sales manager has the authority to do business on credit.
But in case he allows this facility not to the general customers but only to his relatives and friends, then it will amount to ignoring his respect to his authority. (Note: Both these examples give a message of indiscipline which is an undesirable situation.)
(4) Unity of Command:
According to the principle of unity of command, an individual employee should receive orders from only one superior at a time and that employee should be answerable only to that superior. If there are many superiors giving orders to the same employee, he will not be able to decide as to which order is to be given priority. He thus finds himself in a confused situation.
Such a situation adversely affects the efficiency of the subordinates. On the other hand, when there are many superiors, every superior would like his orders to be given priority. This ego problem creates a possibility of clash. Consequently, their own efficiency is likely to be affected.