A showroom for office furniture is maintained by Swaraj. Businessmen make up the majority of his customers, and they like credit purchases. In light of this, he has granted Mr. Bhardwaj, the sales manager, the authority to provide a time frame of just 20 days when negotiating a deal with a buyer. On a particular day, Mr. Bhardwaj discovers that he can close a highly profitable deal for the company if he can provide a potential buyer a 30-day credit term as an exception. Thus, in the interest of the company, Mr. Bhardwaj asks Swaraj to give him more authority to offer a 30-day credit period. Swaraj, however, declines to expand his power, and as a result, the deal was not finalised.

What management principle was violated that led to the loss in the deal?