Thursday, February 19, 2015

Principles of Management - Koontz and O'Donnell - Propositions - 4th Edition









Staffing Principles

Principles Related to the Purpose of Staffing

1. Principle of staffing objectives
   

The objective of managerial staffing is to assure that organization roles are filled by personnel able and willing to occupy them.

2. Principle of staffing


The better the clear definition of an organizational role and its translation into human requirements and the better candidates and incumbents are evaluated and trained, the more the quality of personnel can be assured.


Principles related to the Process of staffing
3. Principle of job definition


Specification for the job rest on the need for results from plans, the requirement of a clear structure of roles, and the provision for incentives to induce efficient and effective performance.

4. Principle of managerial appraisal


Complete appraisal of managers requires appraisal of performance in terms of verifiable objectives and in terms of the quality of managing.





5. Principle of open competition in promotion


If an enterprise is to assure maintenance to the best quality of management, it is necessary to open selection of candidates for promotion to those available both inside and outside the enterprise.

6. Principle of management development


The more programs of management development aim at improving the abilities of existing managers in their present position, as well as making it possible for them to be promotable, and the more top managers give example and encouragement through participating actively in the leadership and operation of such programs, the more effective such programs will be.

7. Principle of universal development


Since management techniques and knowledge and the total environment of managing change constantly, the enterprise that would assure its managerial competence cannot tolerate mangers who are not interested in their continuous development.




A comparison of Major Control Principles (Book by Harold Koontz and Cyril o’Donnel – page 731-736)  and A Preliminary Statement of Principles of Planning and Control (Paper by Harold Koontz in 1958 – page 57 - 60 )

The basic principles of control can be grouped into three categories, reflecting their purpose and nature, structure, and process.


1. Purpose and nature of control includes (book)
1) Principle of assurance of objective
2) Principle of efficiency of control
3) Principle of control responsibility
4) Principle of direct control

Principle of assurance of objective:

The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The task of control is to assure accomplishment of objectives by detecting potential or actual deviation from plans early enough to permit effective correction action.” (book)
The purpose of control is attainment of objectives. This it can be achieved by detection of failures in plans that are designed to attain objectives. (paper)


Principle of efficiency of control:
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The more control approaches and techniques detect and illuminate the causes of potential or actual deviations from plans with minimum of costs or other unsought consequences, the more efficient these control are.”  (book)
Principle of control responsibility:
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The primary responsibility for the exercise of control rests in manager charged with the execution of plan”. (book)
This principle clarifies the often misinterpreted role of controllers and control units. The control units may act in staff or service capacity to furnish control information to managers, but they cannot exercise control without assuming the managerial responsibility and managerial authority for the things controlled.


Principle of direct control:
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The higher the quality of managers and their subordinates, the less will be the need for indirect controls”. (book)
While the statement of principle in paper is as follows,
“The most effective technique of control in an enterprise is to assure the quality of subordinates, particularly managers.” (paper)
From book the assumptions of principles of direct control are different than as mentioned in paper except 1) manager makes a minimum error / fewer mistakes.
Other assumptions of principles of direct control mentioned in the book are managerial performance can be measured, management principle are useful diagnostic tools in measuring management performance, application of management principle can be evaluated.

While paper mention best managers plan better and more thoroughly, establish a clear and coordinated organization, do best job of selecting and training subordinates and most effectively direct the activities of subordinate.

2. The structure of control (book)
1. Principle of reflection of plans
2. Principle of Organisational suitability
3. Principle of individuality of controls

Principle of reflection of plans
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The more controls are designed to deal with and reflect the specific nature and structure of plans, the more effectively they will serve the interests of the enterprise and its managers.”

Principle of Organisational suitability
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The more controls are designed to reflect the place in the organisation structure where responsibility for action lies, the more they will facilitate correction of deviation of events for plans.”. Controls must fit a manger’s authority area and therefore be designed to reflect organization structure.(book)
Controls must be designed to reflect organization structure. Effective controls must be applicable to a manager’s authority area and therefore must reflect organization structure. All figures and reports used for the purpose of control should be in terms of the organization structure. (paper)

Principle of individuality of controls
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“Since it is the task of controls to inform people who are expected to act to avoid or correct deviation from plans, effective controls require that they be consistent with the position , operational responsibility ,competence, and needs of the individual concerned.” (book)

3. The Process of control
1. Principle of standards
2. Principle of critical point control
3. The exception principle
4. Principle of flexibility of controls
5. Principle of action

Principle of standards
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“Effective control requires objective, accurate , and suitable standards”. (book)
There should be simple, specific , and verifiable way to measure whether a planning program is being accomplished. Control is accomplished through people. Good standards of performance objectively applied , will more likely to be accepted by a subordinate as fair and reasonable. (book)

Under the Principle of Strategic point control , it is mentioned that “Although total plans furnish the most complete and accurate standards against which to measure performance, it would ordinarily be wasteful for the manager to follow every detail of planning execution and often unnecessary and inefficient for him to watch even every fairly important phase of performance. What he must know is that plans are executed in such a manner that they can be accomplished. He must therefore concentrate his attention on such factors of performance as will indicate whether significant deviations are occurring or will occur”. The author says that he doesn’t know any guideline which might be applied by a practicing manager to determine what standards he should have, since selection of standards seems predominantly a matter of the managerial art.(paper)

Principle of critical point control
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“Effective control requires attention to those factors critical to appraising performance against an individual plan.” (book)
The Principle of Strategic point control states that the most effective control occurs when primary attention is given to such factors as are strategic to the appraisal of performance. (paper)
The exception principle
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“The more a manager concentrates his control efforts on exceptions , the more efficient will be the results of this control.” (book)
The Principle of Strategic point control says that manager can reach his own solution to his problem by asking himself what things in his operations will show him best whether plans for which he is responsible are being accomplished. This Koontz says is akin to Taylor’s exception principle. It was Taylor’s wise contention that manager should only concern himself with the especially good and especially bad situations. In a very real sense , the principle of strategic point control is a refinement and extension of the exception principle. (paper)

 Principle of flexibility of controls
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“If controls are to remain effective despite failure or unforseen changes of plans, flexibility is required in the design of controls.”(book)


Principle of action
The statement of principle is in preposition form as,
“Control is justified only if indicated or experienced deviations from plans are corrected through appropriate planning, organising, staffing, and directing.”


Summary:
Paper
The Principles of Control
1. The principle of strategic point control:
The principle states that the most effective control occurs when primary attention is given to such factors as are strategic to the appraisal of the performance.
Manager must concentrate on factors of the performance as well as will give an indication whether significant deviations are occurring or will occur.
Refinement of Taylor’s Execution principle:
Taylor’s Execution principle: Manager should concern himself with especially good or especially bad situations.
But the extension is given as the emphasis on strategic point of control by Koontz in the principle of strategic point control.
2. The principle of organizational suitability:
In accordance with this principle, control must be designed to reflect organizational structure.
Managers and their subordinates are the means through which planning events must be accomplished and control exerted, it follows that if effective controls mist be applicable to manager’s authority area and therefore must reflect in organizational structure.

Refinement of Urwick’s principle of Uniformity: All the figures and reports used for purpose of control must be in terms of the organizational structure. (L. Urwick The elements of Administration, Harper and Bros. New York 1943)
3. The Principle of Future control
Past can’t be changed; effective control should be aimed at preventing present and future deviations from plans.
Just as planning, control should also be forward looking; Koontz claims this as simple principle as ‘often disregarded in management practice.’
4. The principle of Direct Control
“The most effective technique of control in an enterprise is to assure the quality of subordinates, particularly managers.”




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