UNITY OF COMMAND: CHARACTERISTICS, IMPORTANCE, ADVANTAGES, EXAMPLE - DUDAS - 2024

The control unit is the management principle that states that no subordinate in a formal organization must receive more orders and inform a superior. Its purpose is to ensure unity of effort, under a responsible person, to complete a task.

Unity of command is one of Henri Fayol's fourteen management principles. This principle states that there should only be one superior for a subordinate. That is, an employee or worker should not have many bosses or superiors.

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If an employee or subordinate has to work under the influence of many bosses or superiors, this creates a confusing situation, a dilemma and a disorder. This also affects the overall efficiency, productivity and profit of the organization.

Therefore, according to the principle of unity of command, too many bosses or superiors should not direct or supervise the same amount of work performed by one worker or employee. In other words, the work of a worker or an employee must always be supervised by a single boss.

characteristics

- Unity of command refers to a management principle, which establishes that the holder of a position should receive orders from a single boss and report to that same boss.

- The purpose of unity of command is to prevent dual subordination. Therefore, avoid subordination to multiple supervisors.

- It focuses on a single employee or subordinate.

- The result of unity of command is that this principle leads to effective work of subordinates.

- Unity of command can exist in both large and small organizations.

- Establishes the relationship that should exist between a superior and a subordinate.

- Unity of command is needed to establish responsibility for each person in the organization.

- In a small business, the structure can automatically follow unity of command when a single owner or manager has full control over each management responsibility.

Report to a single supervisor

Unity of command means that any worker reports to a single supervisor. Your supervisor in turn reports to only one person. However, each supervisor can have more than one subordinate.

This means that, as an employee, the hierarchy of command essentially stops at a higher level, so you don't have to worry about reporting to more than one person.

Importance

Unity of command avoids the possibility that an employee will not know what orders to follow or to whom to report. This applies even when an organization is being run by a committee.

For example, in the United States, a superintendent of public schools is accountable in his daily activities to the president of the school board, not to the general school board.

Unity of command can help prevent problems, such as an employee feeling the need to respond to more than one manager, or a situation where a senior supervisor directly commands a team member, without consulting that employee's immediate supervisor. member.

This adds clarity to the management process for both team members and supervisors. As a result, it generates less confusion and chaos, regarding the task assigned to the employee and the results obtained in the effective performance of their functions.

Management principles

Henry Fayol, a French mining engineer and manager, was the one who listed the 14 management principles. Two of these management principles are unity of command and unity of direction.

Common to all the members of this school was the attempt to extrapolate, from their practical experiences in managerial roles in large organizations, a set of rules on how to effectively and efficiently administer the administration.

This was defined by Fayol in terms of foresight, planning, organization, command, coordination and control.

To this end, the administration must function according to a set of principles that are valid, regardless of the environment and the organization's objectives. These principles included the principle of unity of command, a clear hierarchy and specialization of employment.

Unity of command and unity of direction

The command unit proclaims that each employee is responsible to a single supervisor and, therefore, receives orders from him, related to the task to be performed.

According to this principle, dual subordination is completely ignored. That is, an employee will be responsible to a single supervisor, who in turn will report to a manager, and so on, the chain will continue.

The person for whom the employee should be responsible is directly above the employee's position, called the immediate boss.

On the other hand, the unity of direction means that the set of activities that have a common objective must be carried out according to a single plan and also under a single boss.

Unity of command is related to the effective work of subordinates in the organization. In contrast to the unit of direction, it is indicated that each unit of the organization must align itself towards the same objective, through organized efforts.

Advantages of the control unit

Better relation

Unity of command helps develop a much clearer, better relationship between superiors and subordinates.

Authority, responsibility and accountability

It results in clear and well-organized authority, responsibility, and accountability among the various levels of the organization's workforce.

Reduce job duplication

Helps reduce or avoid duplication of work between different levels of the organization's workforce.

Quick or immediate decisions

Unity of command helps managers make quick or immediate decisions correctly.

Effective and efficient discipline

The unity of command will ensure effective and efficient discipline in the personnel within an organization.

Better coordination and teamwork

Unity of command ensures better coordination and teamwork of workers in the organization.

Increase motivation and positive attitude

Increases motivation and generates a positive attitude among the workers of the organization.

Higher productivity

It leads to higher productivity of goods and services. Consequently, this creates a better image or brand of the organization in the market.

Example

Proper unity of command flows from the manager to the deputy manager, from the deputy manager to the supervisor, from the supervisor to the executive, and finally from the executive to the workers.

According to the principle of unity of command, the organization must follow a correct unity of command. Therefore, it must not be communicated via the wrong control unit.

References

1. Gaurav Akrani (2012). Unity of Command Principle - Meaning Example Advantages. Kalyan City Life. Taken from: kalyan-city.blogspot.com.
2. Surbhi (2017). Difference Between Unity of Command and Unity of Direction. Key Differences. Taken from: keydifferences.com.
3. The Free Dictionary (2018). Classical management theory Taken from: financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com.
4. Kristyn Hammond (2018). The Difference Between Chain of Command and Unity of Command. Bizfluent. Taken from: bizfluent.com.
5. Sambit (2018). Study Note on Unity of Command. Your Article Library. Taken from: yourarticlelibrary.com.