Principles of organisation

Dr.H.P.Khairnar
•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.”
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
•Division of Work on Specialization.
•Bases of Departmental Organisation.
•Coordination through Hierarchy.
•Deliberate Coordination.
•Coordination through Committees.
•Decentralization.
•Unity of Command.
•Staff and Line.
•Delegation.
•Span of Control
James D. Mooney and Alan C. Reiley:
Principles of Organisation Both
Mooney and Alan C. Reiley have
proposed four principles of
organisation. They are
•Coordinating Principle.
•Scalar Principle.
•Staff and Line.
•The Functional Principles.
Henry Fayol: Henry Fayol, father of the “Principles School” of
management, has given fourteen principles of organisation.
They are

•Division of Work.
•Authority and Responsibility.
•Discipline.
•Unity of Command.
•Unity of Direction.
•Subordination of Individual to General Interest.
•Remuneration Centralization.
•Scalar Chain.
•Order.
•Equity.
•Stability of Tenure.
•Initiative
•Esprit de corps.
 Critical Evaluation
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.
Some of these important principles are:
Hierarchy.
Span of control.
Coordination.
Unity of command.
Leadership.
Authority.
Delegation.
Centralization and Decentralization.
Decision-making.
Communication.
Planning.
Supervision and Control.