Principles of Management
Principles of Management is examined through the functions, levels and classical contributions that shape how organisations coordinate work. Expect direct questions on Taylor, Fayol, motivation and the meaning of management.
Core framework
Management is a goal-oriented, continuous and universal process of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Top management sets policy; middle management translates policy; supervisory management executes day-to-day work. Effectiveness means achieving goals; efficiency means using resources without waste.
Classical contributions
F.W. Taylor's scientific management stresses science over rule of thumb, harmony, cooperation and worker development. His tools include time study, motion study, functional foremanship and differential piece wages. Henri Fayol offered 14 principles, including division of work, authority with responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interest, remuneration, centralisation, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure, initiative and esprit de corps. Maslow's hierarchy explains motivation through physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation needs.
Worked example
A clerk receives conflicting instructions from the sales manager and accounts manager. This violates unity of command, because one employee should receive orders from one superior. The remedy is to assign the clerk to one reporting manager and route the other manager's requests through that line. Unity of direction is different: it means one head and one plan for activities with the same objective.
Traps that cost marks
Do not confuse unity of command with unity of direction. Taylor focused on shop-floor efficiency; Fayol on general administration. Management principles are flexible guides, not rigid laws. Administration formulates policy, while management executes it in a common textbook distinction.