Management Principles and Communication Skills development

MBA First Semester , Odd 2020-21

Assignment 1

Answer all questions. Kindly upload the document (handwritten scanned pdf file), in the
assignment section of the teams

Q1. Define Management. ( 3 definitions)

Q2.Write the major contribution of Peter Drucker. (250 words )

Q3.What has been the main criticism of Classical and Neo Classical Theory of Management (200
words)

Q4. What are the main features of the Modern Management Theory (100 words)

…………..

Solutions

Q1. Define Management. ( 3 definitions)

It is very difficult to give a precise definition of the term 'management'. Different

scholars from different disciplines view and interpret management from their own
angles. The economists consider management as a resource like land, labour,
capital and organisation. The bureaucrats look upon it as a system of authority to
achieve business goals. The sociologists consider managers as a part of the class
elite in the society.

Management and leadership author Stephen Covey describes the Seven Habits
model of management and leadership for personal and business growth. The Seven
Habits are: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-
win, seek first to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and learn from
previous experience.

According to George R. Terry, ''Management Is a distinct process consisting of planning,

organising, actuating and controlling; utilising in each both science and art, and followed in
order to accomplish pre-determined objectives."

According to F.W. Taylor, "Management is the art of knowing what you want to do and then
seeing that they do it in the best and the cheapest may."
Henri Fayol said - “Management is to forecast, to plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate and
control activities of others.”

Q2) Write the major contribution of Peter Drucker. (250 words )

Among the contemporary management thinkers, Peter Drucker

outshines all. He has varied experience and background which
include psychology, sociology, law, and journalism. Through his
consultancy assignments, he has developed solutions to number of
managerial problems. Therefore, his contributions cover various
approaches of management. He has written many books and
papers. His views on management may be summarized as follows:
Nature of Management : According to Durcker the basic objective of
management is to lead towards innovation. He advocates that
management is creative and innovative in nature rather than bureaucratic.
Because managers practice their activities in an ever changing
environment, they always deal with the human beings whose behaviour is
complex and unpredictable. He was warned that too much
professionalisation of management is dangerous. He has also emphasized
that managers should not only have skills and techniques but should have
right perspective putting the things into practice.
Management By Objectives : ( MBO) Mangement By Objectives is
regarded as one of the most important contributions of Drucker to the
discipline of management. He introduced this concept in 1954. It is
regarded to be his remarkable contribution to the management thought. It
consists of environmental scanning, identification of key result areas,
setting objectives for departments as well as to subrondinates, motivation
and performance appraisal. He opines that MBO is a management
Philosophy rather than a management technique.
Management Functions : According to Drucker, management is the organ
of its institution. He sees management through its tasks. Drucker has
attached great importance to the objective setting function and has
specified eight areas where clear objective setting is remained. These are
market standing, innovation, productivity, physical and financial resources,
profitability,managerial performance and development, worker performance
and attitude and public responsibility.
Organisation Structure : Drucker always advocates for the parallel growth
of second line managers because whenever the existing managers vacate
their offices, organizations should not suffer form the non- availability of
experienced managers, if there is gap, it is determental to the performance
of the organization.
Organisation Changes : Futher Drucker has forecasted that organizations
facemany changes because of rapid social and technological changes.
Hence dynamic organization structures are essential than static and
bureaucratic structures.
Federalism : Federalism means centralization of control and decision
making in decentralized structure. Drucker has felt the need for close links
between the decisions adopted by the topmanagement on the one hand
and by autonomous unit on the other hand.
Activity Analysis, Decision Analysis and Relation Analysis : In the
words of Drucker, organization is a means to the end of business
performance and business results. The first question that every manager
must ask himself is what is our business and what it should be? Then the
organization should be designed to attain the objectives of the business.
The contributions of Drucker, especially his futurism, objective –
orientedness and perception of changes stood as hall – marks in the
management evolution.

Q3.What has been the main criticism of Classical and Neo Classical Theory of Management (200
words)

Criticism of Classical Theory of Management

1. Untested assumptions
Many of the assumptions made by classical writers were based not on scientific tests but on
value judgments that expressed what they believed to be proper life-styles, moral codes,
and attitudes toward success.
2. Failure to consider the informal organization
In their stress on formal relationships in the organization, classical approaches tend to
ignore informal relations as characterized by social interchange among workers, the
emergence of group leaders apart from those specified by the formal organization, and so
forth.
3. Human machinery
Classical theories leave the impression that the organization is a machine and that workers
are simply parts to be fitted into the machine to make it run efficiently. Thus, many of the
 principles are concerned first with making the organization efficient, with the assumption
that workers will conform to the work setting if the financial incentives are agreeable.
4. Static conditions
Organizations are influenced by external conditions that often fluctuate over time, yet
classical management, theory presents an image of an organization that is not shaped by
external influences.

Criticism of Neo-Classical Theory of Management

1. Narrow in Scope:
The neo-classical approach of the theory of economic development
is narrow and inadequate.

They assume the existence of such factors as political stability, the

“will to develop”, strong habits of thrift, given tastes, adequate
supply of trained labour and managerial skill, a high degree of
factor mobility and free flow of knowledge between different
countries.

Such assumptions have narrowed down the scope of their analysis.

According to them, the main determinants of economic
development are changes in the size of population, capital stock,
natural resources and technology.

They have minimised the significance of non-economic factors as

the degree of political stability, the attitude of population, legal and
social institutions etc. Marshall himself recognises the limited
nature of his theoretical analysis.

2. Economic Development is not Continuous Process:

The neo-classicists believe that economic development is a gradual,
continuous and harmonious process and hence they could not
correctly analyse the possibilities of cyclical fluctuations in the
process of development. Historically, economic development has
been a discontinuous process.

This fact should have been recognised by them. They also could not
visualise the possibility of disharmony of interest at least in the
initial stages of development.

3. Unrealistic Assumptions:
Another drawback of the neo-classical analysis is its assumption of
full employment which is very unrealistic. Because of this
assumption they could not analyse how an economy can be
maintained at the full employment level. In the field of capital
formation they tend to over-emphasise the importance of interest
rate and minimise that of institutional factors.

4. No Importance to the Role of Govt.:

The neo-classical could not recognise the important role which
government can play in creating conditions for economic
development. In the present era intervention of Govt., is must to
solve various problems of the UDC’s.

5. Study of Developed Countries Only:

Their analysis also suffers from the drawback that they were mainly
concerned with their own developed economies and hence their
ideas and policies have little relevance for under-developed
countries. For instance, their policy of free trade and international
specialisation can hardly solve the problems of under-developed
countries.

Q4. What are the main features of the Modern Management Theory (100 words)

Under modern management thought, streams of thinking

have been noticed since 1960:
1. Quantitative approach.

2. Systems approach.
3. Contingency approach.

A. The Quantitative approach has following features:

1. Management is concerned with problem solving and must use
mathematical tools to solve them.
2. Mathematical models can be developed by quantifying various
variables of the problems.

3. Mathematical symbols can be used to describe managerial

problems.

4. Mathematical tools, operations research, simulation and model

building are used to find out solutions to managerial problems.

B. The Systems approach has following features:

1. Open System:
Modern theory treats organization as open system which has
continuous interaction with the environment. Organizational
effectiveness depends upon it’s interaction with its environment.

2. Adaptive System:
Organization has to adjust (adapt) to the changing environment,
hence management has to bring changes in the sub-systems of the
organisation. With the provision of feedback, management can
evaluate its performance and take corrective measures.

3. Organization as a Whole:
The organisation is looked to be bigger than the sub-systems
combined. In order to ensure effectiveness, the emphasis is laid on
integration of various sub-systems.

4. Sub-Systems:
The sub-systems of an organization are interacting and
interdependent. They are tied together through goals, authority
flows, resources flow etc.
5. Boundaries:
The organization provides a boundary which separates it from other
systems. It determines which parts are internal and which parts are
external. For example, employees in the organization are within the
boundary and customers are outside it.

6. Multi-disciplinary Approach:
The modern theory of management is enriched by contributions
from various disciplines like psychology, sociology, economics,
anthropology, mathematics, operations research and so on.

C. The Contingency or Situational Approach approach

has following features:
(i) Management is entirely situational. The conditions of the
situation will determine which techniques and control systems
should be designed to fit a particular situation.

(ii) Management policies and procedures should respond to

environmental conditions. Various techniques and control systems
should be designed to fit a particular situation.

(iii) Managers should understand that there is no one best way of

managing. They should not treat management principles and
techniques as universal. It will be the situation which will determine
the techniques and methods of management.