PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

OF ADMINISTRATION

BUA 252
 LEARNING CONTENTS

Principle of Authority and Responsibility

2
 PRINCIPLE OF AUTHORITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Fayol recognized that authority and responsibility should go
together.
Influence is a change in behaviour or attitude resulting directly or
indirectly from the actions or examples of another person or
group.
Power can be defined as the ability to bring about a change in the
behaviour or attitudes of other individuals.
Authority according to Fayol is the right to give orders and the
power to exert obedience. It is the power to assign responsibility
and emanates in a company from shareholders to the Board of
Directors and down to scalar chain.
The "authority and responsibility principle" in management,
states that a manager should have the necessary authority to
carry out their assigned responsibilities

3
 PARITY OF AUTHORITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY
The "authority and responsibility principle" in
management, primarily attributed to Henri
Fayol, states that a manager should have the
necessary authority to carry out their assigned
responsibilities.
The meaning is that the power to make
decisions should be balanced with the obligation
to achieve results; essentially, authority and
responsibility must go hand-in-hand to ensure
effective management and organizational
success.
4
 PRINCIPLE OF AUTHORITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility is an obligation to use authority in
ensuring that duties are performed, that is, an
obligation owed to a person's superior.
Board of directors is responsible to the
shareholders and the elected public servants
may have responsibility to electorate.
Accountability is related to responsibility. It is
the obligation of a person to report to his
superior how well he has performed his
responsibility and used authority delegated to
him.
5
 PRINCIPLE OF DELEGATION OF
AUTHORITY
Delegation of authority can be defined as the assignment
of authority, duties and operating responsibility to
another person for carrying out specific activities.
Acceptance of delegation creates management positions.
In delegating authority, responsibility is not surrendered
by the manager. The manager cannot relieve himself of
ultimate responsibility by delegating.
In reality, responsibility is divided into two parts at the
time of delegation and the employee assumes only
operating responsibility while the manager retains the
ultimate responsibility.

6
 CONTINGENCY THEORY OF
DELEGATION
The contingency theory of delegation rests on the fact that the
degree of centralization and decentralization will depend on
individual circumstances and the particular situation of
organizations, which can be discussed as follows:
Cost Benefit Analysis.
The history of growth of the organization:
The status of the organization's planning, control and information
system.
Economic size.
Technology
The qualities of subordinates
The need for coordination.
Management philosophy
Environmental factors.

7
PRINCIPLE OF SPAN OF CONTROL
Concept of span of control otherwise known as the span
of supervision or span of management.
Span of control is the number of persons a manager
directly supervises or manages.
The classical theory places limits on span of control
ranging from 6 to 8 based on the notion that managers
have limited knowledge, energy and skills.
The span of control influences the height of
organizational structure. If the span of control is very
wide, that is, many subordinates are reporting to a
manager, the organization's structure will be flatter.
On the other hand, if a span of control is narrow, that is,
few subordinates reporting to managers; the
organizational structure will be taller.

8
 Choice of span of control
Various writers and scholars have made proposals about the best span of control.
The classical theorists like Fayol, Graicunas and Urwick suggested span of control
to be limited between 6 to 8.
In fact, Graicunas attempts to demonstrate mathematically the geometrical
increase in the number of relationships arising from the increase of span of
control.
The formula used by the French writer is as follows:
R = n (2n-1 + n-1) )
Where R is the number of possible relationships and n is the number of
subordinates.
The greater the number of subordinates, the more difficult it becomes for the
superior officer to manage the geographically increased relationships.
For example, where n is 1, R = 1, whereas an increase in n to 7, R will
geometrically increase R to 490.
On the whole, the choice of span of control is dependent on variables within the
work environment, job related factors and characteristics of individuals.

9
 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the concept of span of control and highlight the factors that determine an
effective span of control.
2. The primary purpose of organization structure is to afford an effective framework for
the delegation of management responsibilities.
3. Discuss the principles and purpose of delegation in management, using a typical
company as an illustration
4. What is accountability? Accountability cannot be delegated. Discuss.
5. The following are positions available in a typical manufacturing plant. Draw from it
as best as you can, an organizational chart. In addition, indicate the level of
management these positions belong: Quality Control Manager, Advertising Manager,
Management Accountant, Marketing Research Manager, Sales Manager, Financial
Accountant, Managing Director of Personnel and Administration, Director of
Marketing, Assistant Managing Director, Personal Secretary to the Managing
Director, Sales Supervisors, Operative Workers, Supervisory Clerks, Accounts
Supervisors, Foreman, Production Manager, Purchasing Manager, Store Keeper, Store
Clerk, Accounts Clerk, Recruiting Manager, Director of Finance.

10