Principles by Gulick and Urwick- Administrative Thinkers

POSDCORB

Now, I will discuss the principles given by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick. I won't be discussing their theories in detail. I will simply give the eight important principles given by them.

Principles by Gulick and Urwick- Eight Most Important Principles for the Organization

1.      Fitting people into the Structure- They say that the first important managerial activity is to create a proper structure of the organization and subsequent to that, to recruit people on the basis of their suitability towards the job and thereby, placing them at the right position.

2.      Principle of Specialization

3.      One Top Executive- This is also being referred to as Unity of Leadership. The whole of the organization is to be headed by one executive. The organization when headed by a board or a commission, then in case of the things going wrong, there would be nobody to ask and nobody to kick. It also delays the decision making.

4.      Unity of Command- A subordinate should follow the orders of only one superior or super-ordinate.

5.      Span of Control- This principle is developed with regard to supervision. Under this principle, Gulick emphasizes that for supervision to be effective, the number of subordinates should be limited which should be at most five or six.

Gulick, while being influenced by V.A. Graicunas and his formula, has emphasized that while the number of subordinates grow arithmetically, the amount of supervision multiplies. It is so because the supervisor has to supervise three types of relations.

1. Direct single relation

2. Direct group relation

3. Cross relation.

Total Relationships that a supervisor has to supervise when the number of subordinates is n,

T = n (2^n/2 + n – 1)

When the subordinates are undertaking similar type of activity, the span of control will be more in comparison to a situation where the subordinates are undertaking dissimilar type of activity.

6.      Line and Staff

a.       General Staff Functionaries- There are certain staff functionaries who are involved in assisting the line functionaries on account of managerial functions such as planning, co-ordinating etc.

b.      Special Staff Functionaries- They are involved in assisting the line functionaries on account of technical functions.

7.      Delegation- Within the organization, the managers should go for delegation. One of the major failures of the organization is lack of delegation or lack of knowledge about what to delegate and how to delegate.

8.      Matching Responsibility with Authority- Principle of Authority- He says that the location of the Supreme Authority within the organization should be clearly established and the line of command and line of authority running from the top of the organization till the bottom of the organization should be clearly laid out. Principle of Responsibility- He says that the superordinate should be responsible for the acts of the subordinate.

Later theorists have referred Gulick and Urwick as Structuralists while Fayol has been referred to as a Functionalist. Fayol was not completely blind towards the structural aspect of the organization; he discussed them in his fourteen principles. Similarly, Gulick and Urwick have not been blind about the functional aspect of the organization. Gulick while being influenced by POCCC came out with a new acronym called as POSDCORB to elaborate the functional aspect of the organization. This acronym was also adopted by Urwick.

P- Planning

O- Organizing

S- Staffing

D- Directing

CO- Co-Ordinating

R- Reporting (Keeping the superior regularly informed)

B- Budgeting