FOR some malevolent reasons, one buzzword that continues to be ignored by many organizations is the “unity of command” principle. Simply, it means that each employee should report directly to only one immediate boss, regardless of his rank.

That is, there is only one person to whom the employee is directly accountable. If you violate this rule, 99 percent of the time, conflicts if not confusion usually happen.

Therefore, management should make sure that, unless there is a valid reason, like an emergency for instance, only one boss should manage and direct his employees.

The other day I was asked by one reader who was complaining against the “centralized” management style of his employer, a medium-size private organization.

“I hate the process,” remarked by Peter (not his real name), who is a young, energetic and intelligent engineer trapped working for a Jurassic corporation.

“My application for a one-day vacation leave requires five signatories, including that of the executive vice president,” he told me. “It sucks!” Peter handed me a copy of the leave form, in four copies, with three carbon sheets inserted in-between the pages.

“But what if you’re asking for a five-day leave?,” I inquired. Peter handed me a magnifying glass, and after two minutes I found the printed microscopic words at the back of the form which says like this: “If more than one day leave, you have to secure the approval of the CEO [chief executive officer] and the Board of Directors.”

I shook my head. “I can’t believe my eyes and ears. It’s impossible to efficiently manage a corporation like this,” I told Peter. The mysterious thing about all this is that this company boasts of a company vision and mission statements that sound like—“We don’t settle for anything less than fast, efficient and reliable service.”

This was quite a shock for me as Peter’s employer is known as an advocate for quality and productivity, which I always thought was the ultimate twin strategy for businesses to flourish, except that some may not be able to succeed with it because their management are too busy with other, high-priority activities, such as golfing, so much so that they always stare into space to look for their balls.

Peter’s problem may seem minor to you, but it is a major issue for me, comparable in scope to meeting a government worker greeting you with a smile, while he holds a door open to you as you enter the building of your local government unit.

I don’t mean to single out government offices here. Really, there are lots of private companies out there, big and small, with its management having a way of making their poor non-management employees, feel that they rank, in the overall corporate hierarchy, just below the level of flat-headed earthworms, fit for roaming native chickens.

As a crusading columnist against poor management style of managers and their organizations, I’m always tempted to say that Peter’s bosses are a bunch of jerks, to use the most diplomatic term against them. Not that I’d be happy after saying that, but I’d rather hit them on the head with my No. 2 Mongol pencil.

“Errr, Mister Rey,” said Peter. “How do I propose that I handle the situation?”

I replied, “You have no choice but to follow the rules.”

“That means I’ve to wait for an average of three working days before they release the approved form,” said Peter in exasperation. “You’ve no choice except when you want to resign your job,” I told him. Peter was in grief: “The trouble is that a clearance after resignation also takes time, with an average taking three months, which includes an exit interview by department managers before I get my terminal pay.”

Then suddenly, it came to me one good idea: “Why not send your CEO a poison letter against the bad things that they’re doing which is exactly the opposite of their company’s mission and vision statement? That could be a wake-up call for them.”

But no, really my point is, you can readily initiate change inside the organization by suggesting something about the advantages of “unity of command” as a support principle to maximize work efficiency. If you can do more positive noise about it, who knows, you can be appointed as a leader of your quality circle, if not the employee suggestion team.

Anyway, my friend, whatever approach you decide, don’t even attempt to show a copy of this article to your management team, or you’ll easily blow your cover. The way I see it, if your bosses read this opus, you’ll be dead meat in no time at all.

Rey Elbo is a business consultant specializing in human resources and total quality management as a fused interest. Send feedback to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter for his random management thoughts.