A finance manager was asked to pitch an offer to an automobile firm to buy some equity. The CEO and General Manager had different opinions on the percentage of the equity that should be acquired. The finance manager was in a dilemma and could not close the deal.

Which principle is violated here?

Unity of Command

The correct answer is option 1- Unity of Command.

Unity of Command is violated in the given statement. 

The finance manager is receiving conflicting instructions or opinions from both the CEO and the General Manager. This creates confusion, dilemma, and inability to act decisively, which is a direct violation of the Unity of Command principle.

Unity of Command: According to Fayol there should be one and only one boss for every individual employee. If an employee gets orders from two superiors at the same time the principle of unity of command is violated. The principle of unity of command states that each participant in a formal organisation should receive orders from and be responsible to only one superior. Fayol gave a lot of importance to this principle.

OTHER OPTIONS

• Unity of direction- All the units of an organisation should be moving towards the same objectives through coordinated and focussed efforts. Each group of activities having the same objective must have one head and one plan. This ensures unity of action and coordination.

• Initiative- Workers should be encouraged to develop and carry out their plans for improvements according to Fayol. Initiative means taking the first step with self-motivation. It is thinking out and executing the plan. It is one of the traits of an intelligent person. Initiative should be encouraged. But it does not mean going against the established practices of the company for the sake of being different. A good company should have an employee suggestion system whereby initiative/suggestions which result in substantial cost/time reduction should be rewarded.

• Subordination of individual interest to general interest: The interests of an organisation should take priority over the interests of any one individual employee according to Fayol. Every worker has some individual interest for working in a company. The company has got its own objectives. In all the situations the interests of the group/company will supersede the interest of any one individual. This is so because larger interests of the workers and stakeholders are more important than the interest of any one person. For example, interests of various stakeholders, i.e., owners, shareholders, creditors, debtors, financers, tax authorities, customers and the society at large cannot be sacrificed for one individual or a small group of individuals who want to exert pressure on the company.