NMIMS Global Access

School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)

Course: Management Theory and Practice
Internal Assignment Applicable for December 2022 Examination
A.1
 Henri Fayol’s 14 principle of management
Henri Fayol was a French mining engineer. He promoted the concept of administrative management.
He focused on administrative management that could be applicable to both general and higher
management. Henri Fayol’s 14 principles are explained below.
1) Division of work: -
As per this principle, work shall be divided among people or group of people as per their individual
skill and knowledge. This division of work principle will bring better efficiency in completing task.
2) Authority and responsibility: -
Authority and responsibility shall always be together. Authority means “right of an individual to give
orders and instructions”. The right of authority arises from the position intelligence skills and
experience of the individual. On the contrary responsibility is a state of being accountable for the
consequences of decision made by managers. Manager should be responsible for all the decisions he
took while working.
3) Discipline: -
Discipline in an organization means obedience to authority. Employees must follow the rules of
organization and obey and respect the governing policies. In order to maintain good discipline in an
organization there is a need for supervision at all levels, clear understanding between management
and workers and logical use of penalties.
4) Unity of command: -
According to this principle, there should be only one supervisor for employees associated with a
particular work. This will help in avoiding confusion in task to be carried out.
5) Unity of direction: -
It should be understood by all employees that if, every individual works in a different direction then,
it will be very difficult to achieve a common objective, hence everyone should be moving in same
direction to achieve one common goal.
6) Subordination of individual interest to general interest: -
Henry Fayol, in this principle emphasised about aligning individual persons goal to the organization
goal.
7) Remuneration: -
Remuneration means salary and wages paid to workers. There should be fair wages paid to the
workers. The calculations should be done considering various factors like cost-of-living, business
environment, organization’s capacity to pay and employee’s productivity.
8) Centralization: -
According to Mr. Fayol, organization must decide degree of centralization required to optimize
utilization of employee’s skills.
9) Scalar chain: -
In an organization there are different groups of people working as per their responsibility and
capacity. At the top there will be president, general manager and senior managers, at the bottom
labours, workers and supervisors. Generally, this year RK is referred as scalar chain. According to the
principles of scalar chain call communication should pass through proper channels of hierarchy.
Hello in case there are any delay in communication due to error key there shall be a provision for
cross communication or direct communication according to Mr file scalar chain is vital to the success
of organization.
10) Order: -
For efficient co-ordination of all elements in organization Order is must. Management must follow
the principle of right place for every individual and everything.
11) Equity: -
Equality means fairness. According to this principle it is mentioned that all employees must be
treated with fair treatment. Management must treat all employees without any prejudice and
biases.
12) Stability of tenure of personnel: -
Management should have constant effort to stabilise the tenure of employee by providing job
security. Moreover, an increase in production will result in inefficient production, this should be
mitigated by improving morale and motivation of employees.
13) Initiative: -
Management must provide freedom to employees so that they can execute their orders effectively.
Employees should be encouraged to take initiatives in their respective field so that they can perform
their job efficiently.
14) Espirit de corps: -
This principle means team spirit. Management must adopt new ways to improve the team spirit
among employees. This helps employees to work in harmony.

A.2
Management is an activity that employs various resources to accomplish predefined goals and
objectives. Let’s discuss whether management is an art or science.
Management as science: -
Science is a systematic body of knowledge pertaining to a specific field of detailed study that
contains general facts, which explains a phenomenon. Science establishes cause and effect
relationship between two or more variables and highlights the principles governing their
relationship. These principles are developed through scientific method of observation and
verification through sample testing.
Below mentioned features of management helps us to prove that management is science.
1. Universally acceptance of principle
2. Experiment and Observation
3. Cause and effect relationship
4. Test of validity and predictability
Management can be categorised as science as it involves systematic methods of enquiry and
analysis of information to make critical decision. Management is a science as its principles
can be applied universally. For instance, principle of division and specialisation can be
applied almost everywhere. As per Luther Guelick, management is field of knowledge and is
becoming a science, because inter-relationship involved are explained systematically and
emerging theories are tested and improved with logic, facts and figures.
Group of management experts, who believes management is a science, state that, there are
ideal management practices for a particular situation. Those people also believes that rational
and objective way to determine the appropriate course of action. Those management experts
also believes that managers need to follow general principles and theories as well as prepare
and test hypotheses to solve a particular problem. For example, if there is a challenge of
improving performance of an employee, methods like motivation, personal interaction or
training are tools which are generally applied to improve performance. Apart from this, early
management experts like Mr. F. W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gillberth, and many others
provided scientific methods of work management.
However, it is important to note that, management is not exactly like material science, but it
is more like behavioural science. This is because, in study of material science, it is possible to
keep other variables constant and study only effect of the variable of interest. For instance, if
effect of change in gas volume with temperature is to be studied then time being pressure can
be maintained constant so that relation between temperature and volume can be understood.
However, it is not possible to in management to study involvement of individuals. For
example, relation of monitory incentives to performance of work is not possible to be defined
by simple mathematical equation. This is because performance is function of multiple
variables like motivation, pressure, targets, leadership etc. Therefore, management is more of
a behavioural science rather than material or natural science.

Management as art: -
Art is defined as a system of doing something in an organised and synchronised manner.
Understanding how a task can be accomplished is an art. Art has following characteristics.
1. Practical knowledge
2. Personal skill
3. Creativity
4. Perfection through practice
5. Goal oriented
6. Must be effective in all circumstances
Group of management experts who believes management is art say that there is no specific way to
learn management. According to them, management is a inborn skill of an individual and that cannot
be taught. It is individual's personality and ability. Thus, it is said that managers are born and not
made.
In addition, experts believing management is an art, say that managers reply on social and political
environment and use their own knowledge to determine course of action. Let us review the example
of performance related problem discussed in earlier case “Management is science”. As per art
perspective, this problem can be resolved be managers depending upon their individual skill,
experience, and judgement. Some renowned management experts have given their viewpoints on
management as an art. These viewpoints are listed below.
1. Henry Mintzberg: - He is prominent management expert in favour of “Management is art”.
He stated that managers don’t have routine behaviour instead, they use their own social
and political skills to resolve problems and find appropriate solution in due course of action.
2. David E. Lilienthal: - In 1967, he presented series of lectures titled “Management: A
humanist Art”. According to him, managers are artists and will respond differently to
different employees and motivate them to get the work done.
3. Peter Drucker: - He termed management as liberal art. According to him management
involves the practice and application of knowledge, wisdom, and leadership. He rejects the
viewpoint that management involves established facts. In fact, he says, management
practices change with change in business environment.
As we know that both views are having their own strong arguments and hence can not be rejected
completely. Both of these views are supported by extensive literature on management. Thus, it can
be said management involves aspects of both art and science. The discipline of art is backed by
science because science is basic knowledge of the art. Similarly, the discipline of science is complete
only when practical knowledge is applied artistically for solving various types of problems.

A.3.a
For handling situation in organization like Lemontree, we need to understand conflict in detail.
Conflict is a situation in which interdependent people express their differences in satisfying
individual’s needs and interests, and they experience interference or difference of opinion from each
other in accomplishing these goals. People from various culture come together for work in an
organization and this bring different beliefs, ideologies, values, perceptions, and style of work. This
results in conflict, and it becomes difficult for individuals to work together. Commonly conflicts arise
due to discrimination on basis of colour, sex, caste. If a manager is biased based on any of these
factors then employees may feel demoralized, which is detrimental for organization’s growth. Let us
study different types of conflict in detail.
1. Interpersonal conflict: -
Clashes between two or more individuals in an organization is categorised as interpersonal conflict.
Individuals can be from same department or from different departments. Interpersonal conflicts can
further be classified in 3 subcategories.
a. Vertical conflict: -Between mangers and subordinates
b. Lateral conflict: -Between two individuals at same level
c. Diagonal conflict: -Between people at different position irrespective of superior-
subordinate relation
2. Intrapersonal conflict: -
Conflicts between two individuals having differences in thoughts, principles, or ideologies are
categorised as interpersonal conflicts. Individuals having such conflicts often becomes irritable or
erratic. It is often seen that the individual is rendered unable to work because they do not believe in
the work they are doing. This may cause negative impact on individual’s professional performance.
3. Intergroup conflict: -
When there is difference of opinion between groups in an organization, then those type of conflicts
are categorised as intergroup conflict. These groups can be either informal or formal. This very
common type of conflict which is seen in organization. For successful working of any organization, it
is very important that all groups or departments work synchronously but intergroup conflicts are
biggest hurdle for synchronism among various groups.
4. Intragroup conflict: -
Conflicts arising within department or group is categorised as intragroup conflicts. Intragroup
conflict affects performance of whole group. When numbers of member in a group increases,
it is quite likely that intragroup conflicts will arise. This is basically due to lack fair division
of work, lack of responsibility assignment.

Whatever type of conflict it may be in the organization, it can impact performance of

individual or organization. Sometimes conflicts can lead to enhancing individual’s
performance due to competitive feeling, generation of new ideas, clarification of old
problems. Even though conflict can generate positive or negative impact on performance,
mangers shall not ignore conflicts.

A.3.b
Conflicts are unavoidable part of life and hence all of us should develop ability to handle it.
Irrespective of results of conflict, it must be addressed and can not be ignored. There are
many examples in history, that ignoring conflicts for a long period of time situation has
worsen instead of resolving the problem. To manage conflicts there are number of techniques
used by organizations. Let us study these strategies in detail.

1. Avoiding: -
In this strategy, people will avoid conflicts by simply changing topics or denying any situation that
can lead to conflicts. This style is suitable for organization where members or group of people don’t
want to get into any sort of arguments with other members. There are many reasons why this
strategy is used like there are no intention to get into stress due to conflicts or hurting other’s
feeling. This is least effective style of resolving administrative conflicts.
2. Accommodating: -
In this strategy, an individual shows high concern for others’ needs in comparison with his/her own
individual needs. This accommodating strategy is adopted in an organization where individuals are
willing to form social relation with other individual. Employees with this style often seen to sacrifice
their own demands to keep other members happy. This conflict management method at times
requires high level of sacrifice and may not be always practical.
3. Competing: -
Competing among people is very effective strategy to bring out best from individuals. Individuals
with this style often seen with assertive nature and take a stand for what they know and want. They
are generally dominant in nature. This strategy can be used in emergencies when quick decision are
required to resolve conflicts.
4. Collaborating: -
In this strategy, groups or individuals are willing to work together to achieve common goals. This
style often turns the situation in win-win condition for organization. This is most efficient way to
resolve the conflict, but it may not be possible to find ideal solution to each problem using this
technique.
5. Compromising: -
According to this strategy, individual or group try to partially satisfy themselves. In compromising,
people believe in give and take policy with which they try to arrive at agreeable term. This technique
is adopted by organizations where both parties are equally strong and there is a deadline looming
over them.

Conflict is inherently uncomfortable for most of us, in both personal and professional contexts, but
learning to effectively handle conflicts in a productive, healthy way is essential - especially at work.
In a leadership position, it is very important to be able to effectively manage conflicts as they arise.
While conflict resolution is a skill which needs lots of practice and experience, above mentioned
strategies can be applied to start with and masted over period of time.