Skip to content

ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Leadership, management and supervision

At Brenner Co, an employee in the sales team receives instructions on the same customer order from both the sales director and the finance director, who give conflicting directions. Which of Fayol's principles is being breached?

Unity of command is breached. Fayol's principle says each employee should receive instructions from only one superior. Receiving conflicting orders from two directors on the same order violates this. Unity of direction concerns one plan and one head for related activities, which is a different idea.

  1. AScalar chain
  2. BUnity of direction
  3. CUnity of commandCorrect
  4. DDivision of work

Explanation

Unity of command states that an employee should receive orders from only one superior. Here the employee has two bosses giving conflicting instructions. Unity of direction is different: it requires one plan and one head for a group of activities with the same objective.

Did you get it right without looking?

One question tells you little. A timed set on Leadership, management and supervision shows your real accuracy, how long you take and where you lose marks.

Practise Leadership, management and supervisionFree diagnostic mock

More Leadership, management and supervision questions