Okuzeka
Management & Leadership vocabulary · Organisational Structure

Unity of command

Meaning in management & leadership, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In management & leadership, unity of command means: The organisational principle that a person should receive formal work direction from one immediate superior.

In Turkish: komuta birliği

How it is used

Use as a classical structural principle; matrix arrangements deliberately depart from it through dual reporting.

Example sentences

  1. The plant restored unity of command after operators received conflicting instructions from two supervisors.

    One recognised source of formal instruction reduces divided direction.

  2. The workshop contrasted unity of command with the company's matrix reporting arrangements.

    The principle concerns the number of immediate authorities, not the length of the hierarchy.

Common collocations

  • principle of unity of command
  • maintain unity of command
  • chain of commandThe official line of authority in an organisation, showing who gives instructions to whom and the order in which decisions and problems move up and down.
  • matrix structureAn organisational structure in which employees report to two managers at the same time, usually a functional manager and a project or product manager.

More terms: Organisational Structure

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: