APPLICATION OF FAYOL’S PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT IN

NATIONAL MUSEUM

ASSIGNMENT - 1

Submitted To
Mr. Pankaj Bhasin

Submitted By
Priya
18M/01
Museology
3rd semester
Introduction
For smooth running of any organization is required a proficient management. All organizations require
management to succeed. Management is the process of achieving goals and objectives effectively and
efficiently through people. It involves designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals
work together in groups. According to Fayol, “To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to
command, to coordinate and to control”. In 1916 Henri Fayol published the 14 principles of
management‟. Management researchers over the years orate that these principles advocated by Fayol is
what transformed to the present-day management and administration.
Established in 1949, the National Museum, New Delhi is one of the major museums of India and
housing the precious treasure of India’s cultural heritage. The museum is run by the ministry of culture,
Government of India.

Vision/Mission of national museum

 To collect art objects of historical and cultural and artistic significance for the purpose of display,
protection, preservation and interpretation(research)
 To disseminate knowledge about the significance of the objects in respect of history , culture, and
artistic excellence and achievement.
 To serve as cultural center for enjoyment and interaction of the people in artistic and cultural
activity
 To serve as epitome of national identity

Division of work
The national museum has divided the work into several departments. There are separate department for
administration, curatorial and technical, display, exhibition, public relations, lecturing and education,
publication, library, modeling, conservation work. Employees are appointed to the job on the basis of
their specialization and skills.

Authority and responsibility

In the case of NM, heads of departments are responsible for the affairs of their concerned departments
and however have the authority to oversee operations in their departments. Above all the department of
the museum is the CEO as the highest authority.

Discipline
It’s observed in national museum discipline flows from top level to lower level in the museum. Museum
has code of conduct for the museum employees. All the employees are obliged to follow the rules and
regulations of the museum. All the employees are kept under check and penalties are applied judiciously
on the violation of museum’s rules.

Unity of command
In each department of the museum there is only one boss and all the subordinates are required to follow
the command of their boss. This avoids the situation of confusions and conflicts and also maintains
harmonious relations between boss and their staff. It helps in the fixation of responsibility .
Unity of direction
After observing the present situation and the vision and mission of NM it’s apparent that all the
employees and the people on the higher levels of authority of all departments are working to achieve the
vision and mission set out for the museum.

Subordination of Individual Interests to The General Interests

The interest of the museum is the priority of the individual employee over his/her personal interest. They
care the for museum’s benefit.

Remuneration of employees
The employees get paid according to their rank for example the deputy curator gets higher pay than the
assistant curator.

Centralization & decentralization

The management of the national museum is highly centralized for taking any decision the department of
the museum must go to the topmost authority. The power of taking decision lies with CEO of the museum
other subordinate departments cannot take any step without prior permission of the CEO.

Order
It simply means, things in the organization should be done in an orderly manner, so therefore, if work is
not done in an orderly manner in an organization, there will be chaos. According to Fayol, “People and
materials must be in suitable places at appropriate time for maximum efficiency.”
It was observed that in NM has set rules and a regulation for their employees, as well as it is
preferred work to be done according to a pre-set schedule for example developing an exhibition .
Equity
The principle of equality should be followed and applied at every level of management. Fayol was of the
opinion that managers should be fair to their staff but at times exhibiting power and harshness might
come in handy for the sake of equity.
In the NM, management works in hierarchy where person on the higher level of authority gets
more than benefits the subordinate, here one can clearly observes the contravention of Fayol’s principle
of equity.

Stability of Tenure
This principle is linked with long tenure of personnel in the organization. Fayol says that an organization
stands a better chance to grow faster if its employees are stable. This principle is established based on the
belief that a staff with a secured long-term tenure will use his experience and knowledge gotten from
working in the organization to initiate innovation, productivity, help with the organizations growth and
further increase the organizations profit base.
NM is a government organization staffs are recruited through govt. assessments and by
contractor. People recruited through govt. may have stability of tenure but a staff appointed by contractors
doesn’t have security of tenure they are appointed for a limited time period.

Esprit de Corps
This principle emphasizes on team work and team spirit. For an organization to achieve the best result
there should be a unified and effective integration and coordination of both individual and group effort. It
promotes staff unity and co-operation. According to Fayol management should promote teamwork
especially in large organizations if otherwise it will be difficult to achieve organizational goals.
It is observed that all the employees of various department of NM are dedicated to reach a common goal
to serve as a cultural center for enjoyment and interaction of the people in artistic and cultural activity.
Whenever the museum organizes any public program, workshop or exhibition the work is handle by a
team from developing the program till the outcome of the program.

Suggestions
The management is highly centralized in the National Museum which sometimes affects the efficiency of
the work. For even a small decision one has to go to approach to different level of authorities to reach the
highest one. There should some committee to take minor decisions related to the organization.