‘Bhasin’ limited was engaged in the business of food processing and selling its products under a popular brand. Lately, the business was expanding due to good quality and reasonable prices. Also with more people working the market for processed food was increasing. New players were also coming to cash in on the new trend. In order to keep its market share in the short run, the company directed its existing workforce to work overtime. But this resulted in many problems. Due to the increased pressure of work the efficiency of the workers declined. Sometimes the subordinates had to work for more than one superior resulting in declining efficiency. The divisions that were previously working on one product were also made to work on two or more products.
This resulted in a lot of overlapping and wastage. The workers were becoming undisciplined. The spirit of teamwork, which had characterized the company, previously was beginning to wane. Workers were feeling cheated and the initiative was declining. The quality of the products was beginning to decline and market share was on the verge of decrease. Actually, the company had implemented changes without creating the required infrastructure.
a. Identify the Principles of Management (out of 14 given by Henry Fayol) that were being violated by the company.
b. Explain these principles in brief.
c. What steps should the company management take in relation to the above principles to restore the company to its past glory?
a. The principles of management that will be violated by the company are unity of command, unity of direction,order, initiative, discipline, remuneration, division of work and subordination of individual interest to general interest.
b. The principles are explained below:
i- Unity of command - The principle of unity of command states that every subordinate must receive orders from one one boss. This is because if he receives orders from more than one boss it would be difficult for him to clearly understand the task to be executed. It would also help to increase accountability to his task. It would help to maintain a clear cut system of discipline and order throughout the organisation.
ii- Unity of direction- All the units in an organisation must be moving forward on the same path to achieve the goals of the organisation. Each department must be having the same objective that would help them to achieve the overall goals of the organisation.
iii- Order- Employees and the materials must be used in suitable places at the appropriate time to increase efficiency.
iv - Initiative-The employees must be motivated and dedicated to their job. They must be given enough freedom in the organisation to work with creativity and innovation. Timely suggestions must also be taken from them.
v- Discipline- all the employees of the organisation must follow the ethical code of conduct, prescribed guidelines, rules, and regulations, etc to maintain discipline in the organisation.
vi - Remuneration- The workers should be able to receive fair wages for their work done at regular intervals.
vii- Division of work-The work must be divided among the employees as per their specialization in different fields.
viii- The subordination of individual interest to the general interest-The interest of the individual employees should be linked with the goals of the organisation.
c. The following steps should the company management take in relation to the above principles to restore the company to its past glory:
i- There should be only one boss to give command.
ii-All the functions must be performed under one head one plan.
iii-Work must be divided into small tasks and should be divided to the workers on the absi of their specialisation.
iv-The workers must receive a fair compensation timely.
v- The workers must be self motivated and timely suggestions must be taken from them as well.
There must a formal code of conduct to guide the actions of the employees.
vi- The interest of the employee must be linked with the goals of the organization.
vii- A formal system must be maintained.