Unity of command is the basic principle of management according to which having too many superiors confuses and disrupt the work of the subordinates and hence ideally company should have one superior whose order subordinates have to follow and also subordinates should report to one superior only. In order to get a better idea about this concept, one should look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of unity of command –
Advantages of Unity of Command
Unity of Command is Responsibility Driven
The first and foremost advantage of unity of command is that it is responsibility driven because when there is only one superior then he or she knows that it is he or she who has to control the subordinates under him or her and that superior cannot put that responsibility on others which will be the case when there are more than one superiors as in case of failures superiors will blame other superiors and company will find it difficult to fix responsibility on any one of the superior.
No Scope of Confusion
Another benefit of unity of command is that it leaves no scope of confusion because when subordinates have more than one superior then they will always be in confusion because there will be many cases when multiple superiors will give orders at the same time leaving the subordinates confused about orders and thus affecting the efficiency of the workers as confusion always delays the work leading to fall in the productivity of the workers.
Better Control due to Unity of Command
It helps in better control because when there is only one superior then he or she has authority as well as responsibility towards the subordinates working under that superior and subordinates also fear that superior as they know that he or she is the ultimate authority which leads to better control by superior over his or her subordinates. In simple words in the case of the football team if the football team has been given orders that they have to follow instructions from the coach as well as captain then the captain of the team will not have any control because half the side will be playing according to the instructions of the coach and half the side will be playing according to the team captain making team lose its coordination and teamwork same is the case with the company having multiple superiors.
Disadvantages of Unity of Command
Bad Superior
The biggest drawback of unity of command is that if superior is bad or inefficient then it will result in bad performance of the whole department because since there is one superior and if that superior is inefficient then no matter how well the subordinates do their work it will not be enough due to inefficient superior. In simple words, if the capital of the ship is not good then the fate of that ship is not good even if crew members of the ship are good in the same way due to unity of command an inefficient superior at the top ensures that the department does not perform well.
Centralization of Power
Another disadvantage of unity of command is that it can sometimes lead to centralization of power because this concept advocates that there should be one superior only which in turn will lead to too much power going in the hands of one superior and if that power goes into the head of superior than it will not be good for subordinates as well as the company as history is filled with examples where the arrogant leader does not enjoy the patronage of its followers and in the case of companies subordinates will revolt against any superior who is misusing the power.
Biasness
It can also lead to biasness because if superior is biased towards some subordinates then it will lead to dissatisfaction among others as criteria for appraisal will not be performance but proximity with superior which is not good for the department as well as the company as performers will feel dejected and may leave the company and no company can afford to lose their performers.
As one can see from the above that unity of command has pros as well as cons and that is the reason why any company or top management should implement unity of command selectively rather than implementing it across the organization as not all departments are fit for the applicability of this principle of management.