Administrative Thought Questions and Answers

Q: Which one of the following basic elements of administrative process suggested by H. Fayol are not a part of POSDCORB ?

The answer is Commanding and Controlling.Henri Fayol listed five elements of administration: planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Luther Gulick's POSDCORB stands for planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting.Commanding and controlling are in Fayol's list but not in POSDCORB. Coordinating appears in both, which rules out the first option, and 'companioning' and 'cooperating' are not Fayol's elements.

Q: Follet distinguished between which 3 types of leadership ?(1) Leadership of position(2) Leadership of planning(3) Leadership of personality(4) Leadership of functions

Follett's three types are (1), (3), (4): leadership of position, leadership of personality and leadership of function.Mary Parker Follett distinguished leadership that comes from holding a formal post (position), leadership that comes from force of character (personality), and leadership that comes from knowing the work best in a given situation (function). She regarded the last as the most important in a modern organisation, because authority should follow the situation and the knowledge it needs.'Leadership of planning' is not one of her categories, so every option that includes (2) is wrong, which leaves only (1), (3) and (4).

Q: Who has analysed the leadership in terms of 'circular response' ?

Leadership was analysed in terms of 'circular response' by M.P. Follett.In Creative Experience (1924) Mary Parker Follett described every human relation as a circular response: each party's behaviour responds not just to the other person but to the relation between them, which their own behaviour is already changing. Leadership, on this view, is not one-way command but a reciprocal process of influence between leader and led.Chester Barnard is known for the acceptance theory of authority and the zone of indifference, J.D. Millett wrote on management in the public service, and F.W. Taylor founded scientific management, which treated leadership as the issuing of instructions.

Q: Herbert A. Simon outlines his theory in the book ...........

Simon outlined his theory in 'Administrative Behaviour : A Study of Decision-making Process in Administrative Organisation, as printed.Herbert A. Simon's Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization was first published in 1947. It made the decision, rather than the structure, the unit of analysis, criticised the classical 'principles' as proverbs, and introduced the idea of bounded rationality and the 'administrative man' who satisfices rather than maximises.The other three titles are made by recombining words from the real one; no book of Simon's carries any of them.

Q: One feature of Weberian model of Bureaucracy is :

One feature of Weber's model of bureaucracy is continuity.Max Weber described legal-rational bureaucracy as a continuous organisation of official functions bound by rules. The office exists apart from the person holding it, business is conducted on the basis of written files, and officials hold career posts, so the administration carries on without a break when individuals change.Initiative (printed 'Inititative') and flexibility are what critics say the model lacks, since it works by fixed rules and hierarchy. Cooperation is not one of the features Weber listed: his model rests on rules, hierarchy, specialisation, impersonality and records.

Q: The POSDCORB view is criticized because it ignores :

POSDCORB is criticised for ignoring the substance of the subject.Luther Gulick's acronym (1937) lists the executive's functions: planning, organising, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and budgeting. Critics such as Lewis Meriam pointed out that these are only the tools common to every agency. They say nothing about the substance an agency deals with, such as health, education or defence, and knowledge of that substance is just as necessary to administer it well.Managerial techniques and processes are exactly what POSDCORB describes, and efficiency was the central value of Gulick and the classical school, so neither is what it ignores.

Q: Which one of the following elements is ignored by the classical theory ?

The classical theory ignored informal patterns.The classical writers, among them Fayol, Gulick, Urwick, Mooney and Reiley, studied organisation as a formal structure built on principles such as hierarchy, unity of command, span of control and specialisation. They treated people as parts of that structure.The Hawthorne studies of Elton Mayo and his colleagues showed that workers form informal groups with their own norms, leaders and communication, which shape output as much as the formal design. That discovery is the human relations school's main criticism of the classical theory. Formal structure, managerial techniques and principles of organisation are what the classical theory concentrated on, so they cannot be what it ignored.

Q: The principle of unity of command was rejected by :(1) F.W. Taylor(2) Seclor Hudson(3) J.D. Millet(4) Herbert SimonCodes :

The answer is (1), (2), (3) and (4), all four writers.F.W. Taylor rejected unity of command with his functional foremanship, in which a worker took orders from eight specialist foremen. Herbert Simon, in The Proverbs of Administration (1946), showed that the principle contradicts specialisation, since an expert must be able to give orders in his field to people who report to someone else.Standard Indian textbooks also list Catheryna Seckler-Hudson and John D. Millett among its critics, because in practice specialists and field offices answer to more than one superior. Every code includes Taylor, so the question turns on the others, and each code that leaves out (2), (3) or (4) is incomplete.

Which one of the following basic elements of administrative process suggested by H. Fayol are not a part of POSDCORB ?

A.Coordinating and Controlling
B.Commanding and Controlling
C.Controlling and Companioning
D.Commanding and Cooperating

Exam Year(s)

CBSE Assistant Secretary - 2024,

Answer: D

The answer is Commanding and Controlling.

Henri Fayol listed five elements of administration: planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Luther Gulick's POSDCORB stands for planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting.

Commanding and controlling are in Fayol's list but not in POSDCORB. Coordinating appears in both, which rules out the first option, and 'companioning' and 'cooperating' are not Fayol's elements.

Discuss in Forum

Follet distinguished between which 3 types of leadership ?

(1) Leadership of position
(2) Leadership of planning
(3) Leadership of personality
(4) Leadership of functions

A.(1), (2), (3)
B.(1), (3), (4)
C.(2), (3), (4)
D.(1), (2), (4)

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: B

Follett's three types are (1), (3), (4): leadership of position, leadership of personality and leadership of function.

Mary Parker Follett distinguished leadership that comes from holding a formal post (position), leadership that comes from force of character (personality), and leadership that comes from knowing the work best in a given situation (function). She regarded the last as the most important in a modern organisation, because authority should follow the situation and the knowledge it needs.

'Leadership of planning' is not one of her categories, so every option that includes (2) is wrong, which leaves only (1), (3) and (4).

Discuss in Forum

Who has analysed the leadership in terms of 'circular response' ?

A.C.I. Barnard
B.M.P. Follett
C.J.D. Millet
D.F.W. Taylor

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: B

Leadership was analysed in terms of 'circular response' by M.P. Follett.

In Creative Experience (1924) Mary Parker Follett described every human relation as a circular response: each party's behaviour responds not just to the other person but to the relation between them, which their own behaviour is already changing. Leadership, on this view, is not one-way command but a reciprocal process of influence between leader and led.

Chester Barnard is known for the acceptance theory of authority and the zone of indifference, J.D. Millett wrote on management in the public service, and F.W. Taylor founded scientific management, which treated leadership as the issuing of instructions.

Discuss in Forum

Herbert A. Simon outlines his theory in the book ...........

A.'Administrative Behaviour and Decision-making'
B.'Administrative Behaviour in Administrative Organisation
C.'Decision-making and Administrative Organisation'
D.'Administrative Behaviour : A Study of Decision-making Process in Administrative Organisation

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: D

Simon outlined his theory in 'Administrative Behaviour : A Study of Decision-making Process in Administrative Organisation, as printed.

Herbert A. Simon's Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization was first published in 1947. It made the decision, rather than the structure, the unit of analysis, criticised the classical 'principles' as proverbs, and introduced the idea of bounded rationality and the 'administrative man' who satisfices rather than maximises.

The other three titles are made by recombining words from the real one; no book of Simon's carries any of them.

Discuss in Forum

The first major exponent of the traditional or classical theory of motivation is :

A.Maslow
B.Fayol
C.Taylor
D.McGregor

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: C

The first major exponent of the traditional or classical theory of motivation is Taylor.

F.W. Taylor's scientific management assumed that workers are moved chiefly by money. His differential piece-rate system paid a higher rate to those who met the standard task, and this 'economic man' view, often called the carrot-and-stick approach, is the classical theory of motivation.

Maslow (hierarchy of needs) and McGregor (Theory X and Theory Y) belong to the later behavioural school that criticised that view. Henri Fayol was a classical theorist, but of management functions and principles, not of motivation.

Discuss in Forum

One feature of Weberian model of Bureaucracy is :

A.Inititative
B.Cooperation
C.Continuity
D.Flexibility

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: C

One feature of Weber's model of bureaucracy is continuity.

Max Weber described legal-rational bureaucracy as a continuous organisation of official functions bound by rules. The office exists apart from the person holding it, business is conducted on the basis of written files, and officials hold career posts, so the administration carries on without a break when individuals change.

Initiative (printed 'Inititative') and flexibility are what critics say the model lacks, since it works by fixed rules and hierarchy. Cooperation is not one of the features Weber listed: his model rests on rules, hierarchy, specialisation, impersonality and records.

Discuss in Forum

The POSDCORB view is criticized because it ignores :

A.Managerial Techniques
B.Managerial Processes
C.Substance of the subject
D.Efficiency

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: C

POSDCORB is criticised for ignoring the substance of the subject.

Luther Gulick's acronym (1937) lists the executive's functions: planning, organising, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and budgeting. Critics such as Lewis Meriam pointed out that these are only the tools common to every agency. They say nothing about the substance an agency deals with, such as health, education or defence, and knowledge of that substance is just as necessary to administer it well.

Managerial techniques and processes are exactly what POSDCORB describes, and efficiency was the central value of Gulick and the classical school, so neither is what it ignores.

Discuss in Forum

Which one of the following elements is ignored by the classical theory ?

A.Formal structure
B.Managerial techniques
C.Informal patterns
D.Principles of organisation

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: C

The classical theory ignored informal patterns.

The classical writers, among them Fayol, Gulick, Urwick, Mooney and Reiley, studied organisation as a formal structure built on principles such as hierarchy, unity of command, span of control and specialisation. They treated people as parts of that structure.

The Hawthorne studies of Elton Mayo and his colleagues showed that workers form informal groups with their own norms, leaders and communication, which shape output as much as the formal design. That discovery is the human relations school's main criticism of the classical theory. Formal structure, managerial techniques and principles of organisation are what the classical theory concentrated on, so they cannot be what it ignored.

Discuss in Forum

Assertion (A) : There cannot be an organisation without hierarchy.
Reason (R) : Organisation involves a group of people amongst whom work is divided.

Answer the question using the codes given below :

A.Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
B.Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
C.(A) is true but (R) is false
D.(A) is false but (R) is true

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: A

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

Hierarchy is treated as a universal feature of organisation: Mooney and Reiley called the scalar principle universal, found wherever people are organised.

The reason given explains why. An organisation is a group of people among whom work is divided, and once work is divided someone must assign the parts, direct them and bring them together. That is done through graded levels of authority, which is hierarchy. Since the division of work is what makes hierarchy necessary, (R) is the explanation of (A), ruling out option B, and options C and D are wrong because both statements are true.

Discuss in Forum

10.

The principle of unity of command was rejected by :

(1) F.W. Taylor
(2) Seclor Hudson
(3) J.D. Millet
(4) Herbert Simon

Codes :

A.(1), (3) and (4)
B.(1) and (4)
C.(1), (2) and (3)
D.(1), (2), (3) and (4)

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: D

The answer is (1), (2), (3) and (4), all four writers.

F.W. Taylor rejected unity of command with his functional foremanship, in which a worker took orders from eight specialist foremen. Herbert Simon, in The Proverbs of Administration (1946), showed that the principle contradicts specialisation, since an expert must be able to give orders in his field to people who report to someone else.

Standard Indian textbooks also list Catheryna Seckler-Hudson and John D. Millett among its critics, because in practice specialists and field offices answer to more than one superior. Every code includes Taylor, so the question turns on the others, and each code that leaves out (2), (3) or (4) is incomplete.

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