Management principles are fundamental guidelines or ideas that are adopted by an organization or team to guide their actions and decision-making. These principles often reflect the values and ethics of the organization and are used to shape its strategy and direction. Management principles serve as a foundation for the organization and help to ensure that it stays true to its mission and goals. They can also provide a framework for making decisions and solving problems. Overall, management principles are an important part of effective leadership and management.
General Principles
Foundational principles of management such as Henri Fayol’s principles of scientific management.
- Business As Usual
- Continuous Change
- Essential Complexity
- Fayol’s Principles
- Law Of Holes
- Structure Follows Strategy
Direction & Control
Principles related to directing teams and controlling resources.
- Discipline
- Expectation Setting
- Fiduciary Duty
- Heliotropic Effect
- Management By Exception
- Management By Objectives
- Management By Walking Around
- Productive Assumptions
- Segregation Of Duties
- SMART
- Tone At The Top
Productivity & Efficiency
Principles related to productivity, efficiency and reduction of waste.
- Diseconomies Of Scale
- Division Of Labor
- Economies Of Density
- Economies Of Scale
- Economies Of Scope
- Keep It Simple Stupid
- Keep It Small
- Mise en Place
- Pareto Principle
- Single Tasking
- Specialization Of Labor
- Time Boxing
Economics
Principles of business economics that are relevant to management.
- Bliss Point
- Competitive Advantage
- Competitive Differentiation
- Competitive Disadvantage
- Competitive Parity
- Creative Destruction
- Critical Mass
- Economic Moat
- Failure Demand
- First-Mover Advantage
- Regression Toward The Mean
- Rule Of Three
Innovation & Creativity
Principles related to creativity, experimentation and innovation.
- Category Killer
- Creative Tension
- Fail Often
- Fail Well
- Failure Of Imagination
- How The World Became Fiction
- Inventive Step
- Last Responsible Moment
- Minimum Viable Product
- Motley Crew Principle
- Naive Innovation
- Non-Obviousness
- Preserving Ambiguity
- Ship Often
- Test And Learn
- There’s More Than One Way To Do It
Design Thinking
Design thinking is the use of design to develop strategy, solve problems and make decisions. This allows the principles of design to be applied to management.
- Attractiveness Principle
- Ban The Average
- Fit For Purpose
- Keep It Small
- Less Is A Bore
- Less Is More
- More Is Different
- Path Of Least Resistance
- Principle Of Least Astonishment
- Principle Of Least Effort
- Worse Is Better
Sustainability
Principles related to good business such as reducing your negative impact on people and planet.
- Do No Harm
- Precautionary Principle
- Right To Know
- Think Global Act Local
