A MATTER OF PRINCIPLES Carol Goodwin had recently been promoted to accounting records supervisor. Carol who had been an accountant with the company was pleased to have been appointed to her first managerial position. And although she had received no formal training in management, she had on her own time read several books from the public library on management and supervision. One of the areas of management theory that impressed Carol most was that of management principles. She remembered that one text had described them as “basic truths that guide a manager’s actions”. As Carol assumed her new role, it occurred to her that many of the problems confronting her as a manager might be solved through the application of management principles. Privately, she resolved to apply them wherever she could. As events would have it, Carol did not have to wait long to try out this approach. On her first day as supervisor, three issues were brought up for a decision. The first of these dealt with the optimum use of employees. Three employees in the department were busy only about four hours each day - two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Except for these peak work loads, there was really not enough for them to do. Phil Hampton, a supervisor in an adjoining department was, however, in need of three more employees who could work part time. He told Carol that with an approval from the administrative vice president, he would like to use them during their slack periods. Salary costs could be allocated on an equal basis to each department’s budget. At first Carol thought this was a good idea, but then she remembered the principle of unity of command. Fearing future problems, she refused Phil’s suggestion. A second issue concerned a special project that the administrative vice president wanted Carol to undertake. A problem of “bottle necks” in paper work flow had been causing slowdowns in a number of departments. While departmental managers had been asked to investigate these slowdowns, no improvements had occurred. Carol was therefore asked to “walk through” the procedures, starting with her department and going through several others, to learn more about the delays. She was then to suggest ways of eliminating any existing bottleneck problems. Carol replied that she should be happy to investigate any problems in her own department, but that she was reluctant to go any further since her accountability would far exceed her power and authority in other departments. A third decision involved a work reorganization suggestion by one of the senior departmental employees. She suggested combining two jobs into one since both were extremely simple and rather repetitive. A change in duties from one task to another during the day would perhaps relieve some of the monotony of which employees on these jobs had complained. Carol was interested in the suggestion, but nevertheless rejected it. Citing the principle of division work, she said that she feared that combining the two jobs might result in a loss of efficiency. 

1. Evaluate Carol’s three decisions. Were they soundly made? Did she apply the three principles she cited correctly? Why or why not? 

2. Explain the value and the limitations of management principles. Do you think Carol fully appreciates both? Explain your view point.