Administrative Thought Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Dwight Waldo, in The Administrative State (1948), criticised the notion of unchanging principles of organisation (i), the narrowness of the values of economy and efficiency (iii), and the inconsistencies of the methods used in finding the principles (iv). He did not criticise the role of human emotions in organisations (ii). So (i), (iii) and (iv) are correct, which is the third option. The Administrative State, published in 1948, argued that the study of administration cannot be separated from politics and values.

Answer: B

The concept that authority stems from the task being performed and from the situation, the law of the situation, was put forward by Mary Parker Follett. She held that orders should come from the demands of the situation, not from the person of a superior.

Herbert Simon wrote on decision making and the acceptance of authority, Chester Barnard on the acceptance theory of authority, and Max Weber on legal-rational authority, so none of them is the source of this idea.

Answer: A

The correct matches are Dwight Waldo with Temporal Dimensions of Development Administration, Edward Weidner with Development Administration in Asia, F.W. Riggs with Frontiers of Development Administration and James Heaphey with Spatial Dimensions of Development Administration. This is the code (iii) (ii) (i) (iv).

The other codes give at least one author the wrong book, for example Riggs with the volume on Asia, and are wrong.

Answer: C

The correct matches are esprit de corps with the need for teamwork and healthy interpersonal relationships, equity with justice tempered with kindness, unity of direction with one head one plan, and order with the right man in the right place. This is the code (iv) (iii) (ii) (i), from Fayol's principles.

The other codes mix these meanings, for instance linking equity with the right man in the right place, and are wrong.

Answer: A

Grading of duties, not according to different functions but according to degree of authority and corresponding responsibility, is called hierarchy. It is the scalar process by which authority runs from the top to the bottom of an organisation.

Division of functions groups work by function, decentralization means passing authority downward, and span of control means the number of subordinates a manager supervises, so they are not the definition.

Answer: C

Unity of command is in contradiction with functional foremanship. Taylor's system placed each worker under several specialised foremen, each directing one aspect of the work, which breaks the rule that a person should receive orders from one superior only.

Centralisation, delegation and adjudication do not conflict with unity of command in this way, so the other options are wrong.

Answer: B

The correct matches are Woodrow Wilson with the view that administration is a field of business, Luther Gulick with the politico-administrative system being unique and needing unique treatment, Waldo with public administration research being grounded in political theory, and N.E. Long with the life blood of administration being power. This is the code (ii) (iv) (iii) (i).

The other codes give at least one view to the wrong person, for instance the life blood of administration to Wilson, and are wrong.

Answer: C

The term 'noise' is connected with the communication system, where it means any disturbance that distorts or interrupts the message between sender and receiver.

Decision-making, leadership and motivation have their own vocabulary, such as alternatives, style and needs. The word noise is not used in this sense in those areas, so these options are wrong.

Answer: C

The view that the number of cross and group relationships increases in mathematical proportion as the number of subordinates assigned to an executive grows is Graicunas's. His formula showed how quickly relationships multiply, and it supports a limited span of control.

Katz and Kahn wrote on organisations as open systems, Wildavsky on budgeting and Norbert Wiener on cybernetics, so they are not the source of this view.

Answer: C

The studies on democratic leadership as the most effective style are credited by the key to Rensis Likert, who supported participative management in his research at the University of Michigan.

Fred Fiedler proposed a contingency theory, in which the best style depends on the situation. Kurt Lewin studied autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire styles, and Chris Argyris wrote on the conflict between the individual and the organisation. The key does not give them as the source.