What management principles are

A principle of management is a broad, general guideline for making decisions and for behaviour. For example: 'promote people on merit', or 'promote them by seniority'. A manager uses it as a guide, not as a fixed rule.

Don't confuse principles with:

• techniques: step-by-step methods for doing a job (like time study);
• values: moral, socially accepted beliefs about what is right.

The nature of management principles:

• Universal: they apply to all kinds of organisations, business and non-business, big and small.
• General guidelines: they guide action, but do not give ready answers.
• Formed by practice and experimentation: they come from managers' experience.
• Flexible: they can be adapted to the situation.
• Mainly behavioural: they deal with people.
• Cause and effect: they tell what is likely to happen if a principle is followed.
• Contingent: how they apply depends on the situation. What is 'fair pay', for example, depends on the work done, the firm's ability to pay, and wage rates around.

So deriving principles is a science, but applying them creatively is an art.

Management thought grew in stages: early ideas; the classical school (Taylor, Fayol, Weber); the human relations approach; behavioural science; management science; and modern management.