Administrative Thought Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Likert suggested the linking pin model to remove the hurdles of traditional hierarchies. In it each manager belongs to two work groups, one as leader and one as member, so the overlapping groups link all levels and let communication and influence pass up and down.

'Management System I' is the exploitative-authoritative style, the least participative of his four systems. 'Application of System 4' and 'science based management' are not the names of his model for removing hierarchy hurdles.

Answer: A

Both statements are correct and the reason explains the assertion. Minnowbrook III (2008) brought together scholars of different leanings: those with the Simonesque outlook of rational, scientific decision making, who were drawn to economics, organisation theory and management, and those with the Waldonian outlook of values and the humanities, who appreciated political science, sociology, philosophy and history. The reason describes exactly how the two perspectives were represented, so it explains the assertion.

Answer: C

Chester Barnard's zone of indifference is the range of orders that a subordinate accepts without questioning their authority, because they are neither clearly unacceptable nor clearly acceptable on grounds of principle, and they lie within the person's willingness to comply. The key treats it as those orders which are unquestionably acceptable. The option on orders that are clearly unacceptable describes the opposite zone, where orders are refused, and the option of all the above fails, because it includes that unacceptable zone.

Answer: B

In Herzberg's two factor theory the motivators are the factors that give satisfaction from the job itself: achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility and advancement. Working conditions, policy and administration, and interpersonal relations are hygiene factors, which prevent dissatisfaction but do not by themselves motivate. So the work itself is the motivation factor, which is the second option.

Answer: D

The definition of bureaucracy as an organisation that cannot correct its behaviour by learning from its errors is given by Michel Crozier in The Bureaucratic Phenomenon, where he describes bureaucratic rigidity and vicious circles. Marx saw bureaucracy as a tool of the ruling class, Merton wrote on the dysfunctions and trained incapacity of bureaucrats, and Weber described the ideal type. So Crozier is the answer. The book describes bureaucracy in France, where rules and impersonal procedures result in rigidity and resistance to change.

Answer: B

The view that loss of freedom and humanity leads to loss of morality is linked with Karl Marx, whose theory of alienation holds that under capitalism the worker is estranged from the product, from the work and from other people, and so loses the human and moral side of life. Hegel wrote on freedom as the realisation of reason and Lenin and Mao were revolutionary leaders and not the authors of this view. So Marx is the answer. In the Marxist account the worker who loses control of his labour is also separated from the moral life of the community.

Answer: C

The concept of the knowledge worker, a person whose main capital is knowledge and who works with information, was developed by Peter Drucker, who introduced the term in 1959 and discussed it in his later books on management. Roethlisberger was a Hawthorne studies researcher, and Rosemary O'Leary and Anne Krueger are not known for this concept. So Peter Drucker is the answer.

Answer: A

Both statements are correct and the reason explains the assertion. Administrative theory is full of competing schools, each with its own language, so there is confusion of logic. The reason says that each school questions the others, that adventurism is rampant and that there are no commonly accepted standards, and these are the causes of the confusion described in the assertion. So the reason is the correct explanation, which is the first option.

Answer: A

The idea that the worker's interest should be made to coincide with the organisation's interest, as embodied in its owner, belongs to the principal-agent theory of organisational economics, in which the owner (principal) designs incentives so that the worker (agent) acts for the owner's benefit. Maturity-immaturity is Argyris's idea, Herzberg's theory deals with hygiene and motivators, and contribution-satisfaction equilibrium is Barnard's idea. So the first option is right.

Answer: C

Herbert Simon, in Administrative Behavior, criticised the proverbs of administration, and held that the real fault of the principle of unity of command is that it is incompatible with the principle of specialization, since a worker who has several specialised supervisors cannot have one only. Fayol, who gave the unity of command as a principle, Weber and Drucker did not make this criticism. So Simon is the answer. The criticism appeared in Simon's 1946 article on the proverbs of administration.