Discuss the various Principles of Organization.

The word “Principle” means a standard or accepted guide to action. Different writers have define the word principle in different ways. According to White, “Principle is a guide to action or a means of understanding something.” Scholars like James,D. Mooney, Luther Gullick, F.W. Taylor, Urwick and Alan C. Reiley define “principle of organisation as guidelines for planning an efficient organisational structure.”

According to Henri Fayol these principles as acknowledged truths regarded as processes on which one might rely.” According to these scholars to govern the administration, to control the work of the subordinates or to improve the structure of the organisation, there is a necessity of some principle. These principles are guidelines and important steps for running of any organisation or government. If these principles are properly followed, a sound organisation will be established.

Principles of Organization

Henry Fayol: Henry Fayol, father of the “Principles School” of management, has given fourteen principles of organisation. They are

1. Division of Work.
2. Authority and Responsibility.
3. Discipline.
4. Unity of Command.
5. Unity of Direction.
6. Subordination of Individual to General Interest.
7. Remuneration Centralization.
8. Scalar Chain.
9. Order.
10. Equity.
11. Stability of Tenure.
12. Initiative
13. Esprit de corps.

Gullick and Urwick: Principles of Organisation Gullick and Urwick, while giving principles of organisation, they stressed on the structure of the organisation. Gullick enumerates ten principles of organisation. These principles are

1. Division of Work on Specialization.
2. Bases of Departmental Organisation.
3. Coordination through Hierarchy.
4. Deliberate Coordination.
5. Coordination through Committees.
6. Decentralization.
7. Unity of Command.
8. Staff and Line.
9. Delegation.
10. Span of Control.

Among these ten principles’ of administration, Gullick gave more importance to division of work. He has identified the executive functions in the word “POSDCORB” incorporating all functions detailed above. Urwick, identified eight principles of organisation:

1. The principle of objective.
2. The principle of correspondence .
3. The principle of the span of control.
4. The principle of responsibility.
5. The scalar principle.
6. The principle of specialization.
7. The principle of coordination.
8. The principle of definition.

James D. Mooney and Alan C. Reiley: Principles of Organisation Both Mooney and Alan C. Reiley have proposed four principles of organisation. They are

1. Coordinating Principle.
2. Scalar Principle.
3. Staff and Line.
4. The Functional Principles.

Critical Evaluation: The principle of organisation was criticized by various scholars. Out of them Herbert A. Simon is one. He said that these are principles as “proverbs” as for almost every principle one can find an equally plausible and acceptable contradictory principle. Although the two principles of pair will lead to exactly opposite organisational recommendation, there is nothing in the theory to indicate which is the proper one to apply.

Likewise, take the example of rule of unity of command and rule of specialization. In the rule of unity of command no subordinate shall receive orders of more than one superior but the rule of specialization that a subordinate performing a specialized task should receive orders from a superior who is himself a specialist in this field.

Another important criticism of the principle of organisation is that most of the scholars have gave more importance for designing and structuring of an efficient organisation and neglected the human element in the organisation. They have considered human is insignificant in the administration process. They have stress upon the formal organisation and neglected the informal organisational process. Thus, human relation and behavioral studies rise up.

Each and every organisation should be based on certain principle, for their proper and rational operation. These are the guidelines for running any organisational business. If these principles are properly followed, no doubt it will create a sound organisation. But these principles have developed on the basis of long administrative experiences and observations of administrators and scholars.

Some of these important principles are:

1. Hierarchy.
2. Span of control.
3. Coordination.
4. Unity of command.
5. Leadership.
6. Authority.
7. Delegation.
8. Centralization and Decentralization.
9. Decision-making.
10. Communication.
11. Planning.
12. Supervision and Control.

These principles are called as problems of management. According to M.P. Sharma, “These are the crucial problems of organisation.” However, these principles of organisation are neither rigid nor absolute. Flexibility and adaptability to .every need are in the essence of these principles.