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Some Laboratory Experiments To Test The Unity Of Command Principle, James Miller Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study reports on three separate laboratory experiments designed to test the validity of the principle of unity of command. This principle of classical organization theory had its popular beginning with Henri Fayol and is based on common sense and experience, but has apparently never been scientifically tested using objective measures of performance. The null hypothesis was stated as follows: "There is no significant difference in the performance or morale of individuals who work under conditions of unity of command and individuals who work under conditions of disunity of command".

Subjects in each experiment performed tasks under controlled conditions in …