The fifth Principle of Management was explained by Fayol, the first known management guru from France. The principle states that one head – one plan. It means all the employees will follow the leader in his / her instructions and the leader will ensure that the plan specified is not changed. It’s a leader / managers duty to workout the plan which aligns with the vision of the organisation. This principle also enables unity of action by the empoyees.
Generally there are three divisions in an organisation for different activities. Thus the efforts of the employees of one division must take into account, the threats and opportunities for their division.
The principle helps in establishing for their division. The division The principle helps in establishing co ordination and uniformity of action in the organisation. The objective is to reduce the wastage of resources. Evidently if different team members of a team think differently and work differently, there will be a lot of wastage . The productivity will thus reduce & the cost will increase. The principle is often confused with the principle of unity of command. the principle of Unity of command both sound the same. But the difference is clear. Unity of command is concerned with taking command from one boss. The unity of direction however is concerned with the efforts of the employees of one division towards achieving the objectives of their division.
When followed the impact of the principle of the unity of direction results in following benefits.
- Efficient achievement of the organisational objectives.
- Better coordination among the employees.
- Efforts of employees are directed in a more productive way.
- Finally systematic working environment helps to improve the relationship among the employees.
Consequences of violation of the principle are as under.
- The efficiency decreases and the costs go up.
- Lack of proper coordination results in confusion.
- There would be duplication of activities which results in sheer wastage.
- Finally it would be difficult to achieve the organisation’s objective if the principle of unity of direction is not followed.
Blog is written by Vikram Kakri.
