Read the following passage and answer the question.

"Shining" 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 of the products. 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 over time. But this resulted in many problems. Due to 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 in 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 indisciplined. The spirits of teamwork, which had characterized the company previously was beginning to take back seat, workers were feeling cheated and 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.

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. One of the principles of Henry Fayol was not followed.

Identify it.

Unity of Direction

The correct answer is option 1- Unity of Direction.

Unity of Direction is not followed.

This principle states that all efforts in an organization should be directed towards achieving common goals, under a single plan. When the company directed its existing workforce to work overtime and made divisions handle multiple products, it caused a lack of focus and coherence in efforts. The workers were being asked to shift from a specialized focus (working on one product) to a more generalized approach (working on multiple products), leading to overlapping, wastage, and inefficiency.

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. For example, if a company is manufacturing motorcycles as well as cars then it should have two separate divisions for both of them. Each division should have its own incharge, plans and execution resources. On no account should the working of two divisions overlap. It prevents overlapping of activities.