Administrative Thought Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The statement that the basic good in the science of administration is efficiency is by Luther Gulick, so the answer is B.

Gulick makes it in his paper 'Science, Values and Public Administration' and in the Papers on the Science of Administration (1937), where he says that in the science of administration, whether public or private, the basic 'good' is efficiency. He is also the author of the POSDCORB formula.

Urwick (A) co-edited the volume and Fayol (C) gave the fourteen principles, but the line is Gulick's. Mooney (D) wrote on the principles of organisation.

Answer: A

The phrase 'the age of organization man' is credited to W. H. White, so the answer is A.

William H. Whyte wrote The Organization Man (1956), which describes how large corporations shaped the outlook of the people who work for them, putting the group before the individual. The title gave the language its well-known phrase.

L. D. White (B) wrote on public administration, Gladden (C) wrote on the history of public administration, and Dimock (D) wrote on administration and management, but none is the author of that phrase.

Answer: C

The assertion is true and the reason is false, so the answer is (A) is true, but (R) is false, option C.

Open-model theorists treat an organisation as a system in constant exchange with its environment, and so they dislike the rigid, inflexible and mechanical picture of bureaucracy, which they find anti-humanist. That makes the assertion true.

The reason says that the close-model theorists regard organisation as a fluid network structure. It is the open model that sees organisation as a fluid network, while the closed model sees it as a rigid, self-contained structure, so the reason is false and options A, B and D are wrong.

Answer: C

The principle of organisation determined by the nature of work, age of the agency, leadership and location of the units is the span of control, so the answer is C.

The number of subordinates a superior can supervise effectively depends on these factors. Routine work, an old and stable agency, a capable leader and units that are close together allow a wide span, and the opposite conditions require a narrow one.

Hierarchy (A), unity of command (B) and authority (D) are other principles of organisation, and they are not set by these four factors in the same way.

Answer: C

The staff agency is called 'her alter-ego' by Pfiffner and Presthus, so the answer is C.

The phrase describes the staff as an extension of the chief executive: it gathers facts, advises, plans and co-ordinates, and so acts as the executive's other self, while the line agencies carry out the work.

The key attributes this description to Pfiffner and Presthus, authors of the textbook Public Administration. Mooney (A) and Fayol (B) wrote on principles of organisation but are not credited with the phrase, and the same applies to Dimock, Dimock and Koenig (D).

Answer: A

The key gives matrix organisations as the setting where 'unity of vision' is the core theme, so the answer is A.

A matrix organisation puts people under two lines of authority at once, a functional head and a project head. Because the usual single chain of command is given up, the organisation depends on a shared vision and common goals to hold the work together.

Missionary agencies (B) and field-based offices (C) are described by other features, and D is excluded because the key accepts A.

Answer: A

The key matches climbers with power, income and prestige, conservers with minimum change, zealots with motivation and commitment, and advocates with maximisation of roles and resources, so the answer is a-3, b-5, c-1, d-2, option A.

These are the types of bureaucrats in the account of Anthony Downs. The climber seeks power, income and prestige. The conserver wants convenience and security and so resists change. The zealot is committed to particular policies. The advocate works to extend the functions and resources of the organisation he represents.

The sense of public interest (4) is left unused in the key. Each of the other codes interchanges the attributes of at least two of the types.

Answer: B

The definition of centralisation as the transfer of administrative authority from lower to higher level is credited in the key to L. D. White, so the answer is B.

Leonard D. White, in his textbook on public administration, treats centralisation as the movement of authority upward and decentralisation as the converse, the movement of authority downward to lower levels.

Fayol (A) discusses centralisation as a principle of management, but he did not give this wording. Charlesworth (C) and Fester (D) are not credited with the definition in the key.

Answer: A

The key pairs Fayol with a single superior, Gulick and Urwick with 'a man cannot serve two masters', Pfiffner and Presthus with 'every member should report to one leader' and Dimock and Dimock with 'each employee should have only one boss', so the answer is a-1, b-4, c-2, d-3, option A.

All four statements express the principle of unity of command, and each of the authors is credited with one wording of it. Fayol's version is the best known: an employee should receive orders from one superior only.

The other codes give the wordings to different authors, and the key accepts only the arrangement in A.

Answer: B

The term 'charisma', which Max Weber used in his ideal types of authority, is taken from the Greek language, so the answer is B.

The Greek word kharisma means a gift of grace, and it came into the language of social science through its use in the early Christian writings for a divine gift. Weber used it for authority resting on the exceptional personal qualities of a leader.

German (A) is the language in which Weber wrote, but the word is not originally German. Italian (C) and Roman (D) are wrong.