Henri Fayol's five functions of management, a foundational concept in management theory, are: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. "To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate, and to control."
Fayol suggested the following 5 principles:
1. Division of work: According to this principle the whole work must be divided into small tasks instead of assigning the whole task to one person. Division of work is important for reducing the work burden of an employee and improves his skills. This helps an individual to get specialization in his area of expertise and thereby improves the productivity of an individual.
2. Authority and Responsibility: Authority is the right to issue command and make decisions. Responsibility is obligation towards organization and decisions made. According to this principle, There must be balance in authority and responsibility. If there is no authority, he cannot fulfill his responsibility and if an individual has an authority he must have equal responsibility.
3. Discipline: Discipline is important for the success of an organization. According to this principle, there must be rules and regulations for systematic working in the organisation and both subordinate and superior must follow these rules. There must be a good employee- employer relationship. Employees must obey orders and employers must provide good leadership.
4. Unity of command: According to this principle of Fayol, every employee should receive orders and instructions from one boss and he should be responsible and accountable to him only. This principle will be violated if an employee is asked to receive orders from more than one superior.
5. Unity of Direction: According to this principle “One unit means objective and one plan. There must be one plan for an organization at a time and should be directed by one manager using the same plan. This principle leads to good coordination in the organisation.
