Administrative Thought Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Simon does not list non-deliberate rationality.

In Administrative Behavior Herbert Simon distinguished several senses in which a decision may be rational: objectively, subjectively, consciously, deliberately, organizationally and personally rational. A decision is deliberately rational to the extent that the adjustment of means to ends has been brought about on purpose.

Objective, conscious and organizational rationality are all on his list, so they are not the answer. 'Non-deliberate' is the opposite of one of his categories, not a category of its own.

Answer: B

The correct matching is (a)-(4), (b)-(1), (c)-(3), (d)-(2).

Theory Z is William Ouchi's (1981), drawn from Japanese management practice. The linking-pin model is Rensis Likert's, in which each manager links his own group to the one above. Bounded rationality is Herbert Simon's account of decision-making under limits of information and time. That leaves modern organisation theory with Dwight Waldo, who wrote widely on the state of organisation theory.

Only this code gives Ouchi, Likert and Simon their own concepts. The others pair Theory Z with Waldo or Simon, or bounded rationality with Likert or Waldo.

Answer: D

Urwick set out 29 principles.

In The Elements of Administration (1943) Lyndall Urwick brought together the ideas of Fayol, Taylor, Mooney and Reiley and others into an enlarged set of 29 principles of administration and organisation, which is why the question calls them upgraded.

14 is the number of Henri Fayol's principles of management, the common trap. Urwick's earlier, shorter list of principles of organisation had 8, and 4 matches neither list.

Answer: B

Follett's order is bring the differences into the open, break up the whole into its constituent parts, then anticipate conflict.

In her paper 'Constructive Conflict' Mary Parker Follett said the first rule for obtaining integration is to bring the differences into the open, since conflict cannot be integrated while it is hidden. The next step is to take the demands of both sides and break them up into their constituent parts, which shows where interests can be fitted together. She also stressed anticipating conflict, not to avoid it but to respond to it before it hardens.

The other options start with anticipation or with breaking up the whole, or put anticipation second, which reverses her sequence.

Answer: D

The book deals with the Public Choice Approach. Vincent Ostrom wrote The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration (1973) to attack the Wilsonian and hierarchical tradition and to argue for a democratic administration with many overlapping centres of decision making, built on public choice reasoning.

New Public Administration is wrong because that movement grew out of the Minnowbrook conference and stressed relevance and equity. The Ecological Approach is wrong because it is associated with Gaus and Riggs. The Developmental Approach is wrong because it belongs to the comparative and development administration literature.

Answer: D

Using a gang plank is not one of Taylor's mechanisms of management. Taylor's mechanisms included the routing system, the mnemonic system for classifying materials and products, a modern cost system, time study and functional foremanship. The gang plank is associated with Henri Fayol, who used it for direct lateral contact across the line of authority.

Using a routing system, employing a mnemonic system and employing a modern cost system are all Taylor's devices, so these three are wrong as answers to a question asking for what is not his.

Answer: D

The description of authority as the supreme coordinating power comes from Mooney and Reiley. In Onward Industry (1931) they treated coordination as the first principle of organisation, and defined authority as the supreme coordinating power that holds the organisation together.

Karl Marx is wrong because he wrote about class and the state. F.W. Riggs is wrong because he is known for the ecology of administration and the prismatic model. Max Weber is wrong because he described legal-rational authority as legitimate power, but not in these words.

Answer: A

Items (i), (ii) and (iv) are correct. Max Weber wrote The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, H.A. Simon wrote Models of Man, and F.M. Marx edited Elements of Public Administration.

Item (iii) is incorrect because Organisation and Management is the work of Chester Barnard, not F.W. Taylor, whose book is The Principles of Scientific Management. Every other option contains item (iii) and is therefore wrong.

Answer: A

Both statements are correct and the reason explains the assertion. In Kautilya's Arthashastra the King is the fountain of justice, because he is the source of the law and the final judge. He administers justice according to edicts, that is royal orders and the sacred law, and the evidence in each case.

The option that the reason does not explain the assertion is wrong, because the reason describes how the King acts as the fountain of justice. The options calling either statement false are wrong because both are accurate.

Answer: A

Both statements are correct and the reason explains the assertion. Chester Barnard held that authority rests on acceptance by the subordinate. It is the character of a communication in a formal organisation by which it is accepted by a member as governing the action he contributes. The assertion states the relationship, and the reason gives the definition on which it is based.

The second option is wrong because the reason is the definition behind the assertion. The other options are wrong because neither statement is false.