Which principle of Organisation states that no employee should report to more than one superior *?

The Four Major Types of Organizational Structures in Business

The types of organizational structures in business are just as important as its products, marketing plan and long-term strategy. Businesses need a sturdy structure to attract and retain talented employees, as well as create a workable organizational hierarchy.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

The Four Major Types of Organizational Structures in Business
Picking The Right Organizational Structure
Comparison Chart
Definition of Unity of Command
Definition of Unity of Direction
Key Differences Unity of Command and Unity of Direction
Which principle of organisation states that no employee should report to more than one superior?
Which principle states that an employee should receive orders from their superior?
Under which principles of management employees should receive orders from one superior only for action?
Which requires that an employee should only report to one superior?

Typically, businesses choose from four types of organizational structure. Each comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the right one for your business is imperative because poor organizational structure leads to confusion among employees, poor decision-making among managers and, ultimately, less than ideal results for a business.

Students in Point Park University’s online Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership classes learn about management strategies and approaches to organizational design as part of a curriculum that prepares them for success as business leaders.

Picking The Right Organizational Structure

While there are variations, most companies are created based on one of the following four organizational structures. The goal for business leaders is picking the structure that works best for their particular situation.

Functional

A functional structure is the most traditional approach. It calls for grouping together people who do similar tasks based on their area of specialty. In other words, you’ll find all the accountants in finance and all the marketers in marketing. Managers led each area and report up to a director or executive who may oversee multiple departments.

The advantage here is clear: it provides those with similar abilities the ability to easily communicate and work on projects together. That’s also the reason this is the most popular business structure. The disadvantage is that teams may get “siloed,” unaware of what is happening in other areas of a company.

Divisional

In a divisional structure, people are grouped together based on the product or service they provide, not the work they do. For example, a large corporation such as General Electric has divisions for electronics, transportation, and aviation, each with its own team of accountants, marketers, etc. Global corporations may have divisions based on different geographic areas. On a smaller scale, a restaurant that also provides catering services may have separate divisions to oversee weddings, corporate events and business within the main restaurant.

Matrix

A matrix structure is a hybrid of the functional and divisional structures. It may involve employees reporting to different bosses depending on their current assignment. For example, a software design specialist may report to her boss in IT, but she’s also brought onto specific projects because of her expertise. When that happens, she will report to a different boss as long as that project continues.

The disadvantage is that employees may find it confusing to report to multiple bosses. But clear communication on priorities at all levels can eliminate these issues. The matrix structure requires a great deal of planning but can allow for the creation of the best possible teams to tackle the biggest challenges.

Flat

The flat structure dispenses with the usual hierarchy of a functional structure, decentralizing management and doing away with the need for middle manager bosses. Employees essentially act as their own boss, giving them the ability to communicate directly with peers on ideas and projects.

The advantage is a lot more freedom for employees, which requires a group of self-starters who don’t need managers checking up daily on their work. A flat structure is common in incubators and startups where the focus is on product and services design, not production or top-down management structures.

All four types of organizational structures in business can work well in the right situations. While most companies will choose from the functional or divisional approaches, a flat approach is becoming increasingly popular with modern companies.

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Henry Fayol, a Mining Engineer and Executive of France, who listed out 14 Principles of Management. Two such Management theories are Unity of Command and Unity of Direction. Unity of Command proclaims that each employee is accountable to one supervisor and thus, get orders from him, relating to the task to be performed.

Unity of Direction, on the other hand, signifies that the series of activities having similar objective should be performed as per a single plan and that too under one boss.

Unity of command is related to the effective functioning of subordinates in the organization. In contrast to the unity of direction indicates that every unit of the organization should be aligned towards the same objective, through organized efforts. In the given article, you can find out all the substantial differences between unity of command and unity of direction.

Comparison Chart
Definition
Key Differences
Conclusion

Comparison Chart

Basis for Comparison	Unity of Command	Unity of Direction
Meaning	Unity of command refers to a principle of management which states that one incumbent should get orders from and report to one boss.	Unity of direction is a management principle which implies that all the activities with same objective must have one head and one plan.
Purpose	To prevent dual subordination.	To prevent activities overlap.
Focuses on	Single employee	Entire organization
Outcome	The principle leads to effective functioning of the subordinates.	The principle results in coordination of work of various employees.
Relationship	Represents relationship between superior and subordinate.	Represents relationship of activities, as per organizational plans and goals.
Need	It is needed to fix the responsibility of each person in the organization.	It is needed for sound organization of activities.

Definition of Unity of Command

Unity of Command is a Principle of Management, given by Henry Fayol, which states that each subordinate in a formal organization should get an order from and report to one superior. As per this principle, dual subordination is completely ignored, i.e. an employee will be responsible to one supervisor, who in turn report to the manager, and the chain continues. The person to whom the employee should be responsible is directly above the employee’s position, called as immediate boss.

Unity of Command results in less confusion and chaos, regarding the task assigned to the employee and results in the effective discharge of duties. It indicates an integrated system of instructions, so as to enforce the command. The doctrine is based on the assumption that an employee cannot shoulder orders from more than one boss.

Definition of Unity of Direction

Unity of Direction is another management principle laid down by the French Mining Executive Henry Fayol, stating that there must exist only one superior and one plan for a range of activities seeking the attainment of the same objective. On the basis of this principle, those tasks which are aligned towards the same objective should be lead by one manager, using a single plan.

Unity of direction is a result of sound organization structure, leads to unity of action and coordination in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of the organization.

Key Differences Unity of Command and Unity of Direction

The difference between unity of command and unity of direction can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:

A principle of management propounded by Henry Fayol, stating that one employee should get orders from and report to one boss, is the Unity of Command. On the contrary, a management principle which implies that all the activities with the same objective must be lead by one person as per a single plan is the Unity of Direction.
Unity of command avoids subordination from multiple supervisors. Conversely, Unity of Direction avoids imbrication of activities.
While the main focus of unity of command is the single employee, the focus of unity of command is the entire organization.
The doctrine of the unity of command leads to the effective functioning of the subordinates. On the other hand, the doctrine of the unity of direction results in the coordination of work of various employees.
Unity of Command indicates a relationship between superior and subordinate. In contrast, the unity of direction shows the relationship of activities, as per organizational plans and goals.
Unity of command is must for an organization in order to fix the responsibility of each subordinate in the pursuit of common goals of the organization. Unlike unity of direction is required for sound organization of activities.

Conclusion

By and large, the two management theories are helpful in the discharging the activities of the organization satisfactorily. Unity of Command is just to ignore confusion, disorder, and chaos in the tasks assigned by different superiors. On the flip side, the unity of direction is to match the activities with the organization’s objectives.

Which principle of organisation states that no employee should report to more than one superior?

The correct answer is Unity of Command. It is the management principle states that no subordinate in a formal organization should take orders and report to more than one superior. Its purpose is to ensure unity of effort, under a responsible person, to complete a task.

Which principle states that an employee should receive orders from their superior?

Unity of command states that a subordinate should receive order and be responsible to only one boss. This ensures that each employee gets command only from one superior and is accountable to the same.

Under which principles of management employees should receive orders from one superior only for action?

Unity of Command: Unity of command implies that every worker or subordinate should receive orders from only one superior.

Which requires that an employee should only report to one superior?

This chain has two underlying principles: unity of command and scalar principle. Unity of command: This principle states that an employee should have one and only one supervisor to whom he or she is directly responsible. No employee should report to two or more people.