Universality of Management

Although like medical and accounting, management, has not yet achieved professional status, yet the techniques, principles, and process of management are universal. Universality of management refers to the transferability of its principles, techniques, functions, and skills from one time, place, or job to another. All these management practices are equally practicable and applicable everywhere in the world irrespective of the nature of the job, differences in the customs, habits, and social laws. Managerial functions, techniques can be practiced in every organized effort. Whether it is a business, shop, industry, government office, educational, social, profitable or nonprofitable organization, management principles, functions and techniques are profitably and productively applied. A successful manager of a company or a field can be equally successful in the other. That is why a manager of a company can be safely transferred from one department, company, or area to another. A captain of a cricket team can be successful as a manager of the bank. A retired army general can successfully hold a position of chairman in a company or president of a country.

Arguments For Universality

Different experts have thrown light favorably on the universality of management whose points are as follows.

1. Apart from the nature of the job, management level, industry, company, or country, every manager performs the same functions. He has to plan, organize, lead, and control, no matter he is working in the capacity of a junior or senior manager, head of an organization, army general, or president of the country.
 
2. According to Fayol and Urwick, management has some principles, like unity of command or division of work which can be ignored nowhere.
 
3. Every organized effort has some basic principles, factors, and rules. Every business, educational, government or religious organization has common basic managerial principles. If there is a difference at all, it is that of a technical skill or nature of a job. Universality never means that one particular job should be performed by every manager. But it means that all jobs have principles in common that must be followed by every type of manager.
 
4. Universality of management can be judged from the fact that a hockey captain can become
an efficient manager in a bank. An army general can effectively hold a position of a company or a country, although the nature of technical work is quite different in both the places; but the principles of performing the jobs are the same.

Arguments Against Universality

There are many management experts who oppose management principles as universal. Opposing arguments are as follows:
 
1. Though management functions, principles, techniques, and practices are equally acceptable in diversified environment and conditions, their practicability has some natural limitations. As far as human, analytical, managerial skills, and decision making abilities are concerned these are of course transferable. But if a job demands a particular technical skill, it can be performed only by its expert or specialist. Doctors and physicians cannot do engineer jobs. The pilot of an airplane cannot steer a ship. An accountant cannot as a production engineer. A manager of one culture, environment, or custom may not adapt to another.

2. Universality of management refers to transferability of its principles, techniques, functions, and skills from one time, place, or job to another. But in actual situation it is not practicable. An Army general who has acquired austere discipline and rigidity cannot become a successful head of a university. Applying this principle, experience and rigid discipline in the university will spoil the atmosphere of soft-disciplined university. Inversely, if the discipline of a university is applied in the army, what will happen? The army will be destroyed.

3. Objectives of every company are different. They may not be transferable. A manager, accustomed to a unique atmosphere in a charitable institution which has a liberal policy to distribute funds to the needy people, is sure to fail in a bank which has to be austere and rigid in advancing loans. 

4. .Most management principles are based on personal experiences and have no scientific footing. Hence, they are conflictory or they have to be violated.

5. The principle of functional authority is actually a violation of the principle of unity of command. The first principle necessitates two bosses of a subordinate. The second principle, on the other hand, requires only one boss for a subordinate. Matrix organizations i also a violation of unity of command. Matrix allows a subordinates to have as many as five bosses over him.