About this quiz
50 questions covering every section of the note.
This Lok Sewa practice set has 50 multiple-choice questions (Subject: Public Management · For: Kharidar, Nayab Subba, Section Officer · Level: Easy). Take the quiz above first; after that, use the study list below to revise every question with its correct answer and a short explanation.
Study list: all 50 questions with answers and explanations
Who gave the acronym POSDCORB?
- A) Henri Fayol
- B) Luther Gulick ✔
- C) F. W. Taylor
- D) Peter Drucker
Why: Luther Gulick gave POSDCORB (with Lyndall Urwick) in 1937 to describe the work of a chief executive.
In POSDCORB, the letter S stands for:
- A) Supervising
- B) Staffing ✔
- C) Scheduling
- D) Systemising
Why: S stands for Staffing: recruiting, training and keeping suitable staff.
In POSDCORB, R stands for:
- A) Recruiting
- B) Regulating
- C) Reporting ✔
- D) Reviewing
Why: R stands for Reporting: keeping superiors and the public informed through records and reports.
Who is called the father of scientific management?
- A) F. W. Taylor ✔
- B) Henri Fayol
- C) Max Weber
- D) Elton Mayo
Why: F. W. Taylor is the father of scientific management, which used time and motion studies to raise efficiency.
Who is called the father of modern management?
- A) Henri Fayol ✔
- B) Luther Gulick
- C) Woodrow Wilson
- D) Herbert Simon
Why: Henri Fayol is called the father of modern (administrative) management for his functions and principles.
How many principles of management did Fayol give?
- A) 10
- B) 12
- C) 14 ✔
- D) 16
Why: Fayol gave 14 principles of management, such as division of work, unity of command and esprit de corps.
"One employee should receive orders from only one superior" is the principle of:
- A) Unity of direction
- B) Unity of command ✔
- C) Scalar chain
- D) Centralisation
Why: Unity of command means each employee takes orders from only one superior, avoiding confusion.
Esprit de corps means:
- A) Discipline
- B) Team spirit ✔
- C) Equity
- D) Order
Why: Esprit de corps means team spirit: unity and harmony among staff give strength to the organisation.
The Hawthorne experiments are linked with:
- A) Elton Mayo ✔
- B) F. W. Taylor
- C) Max Weber
- D) Henri Fayol
Why: Elton Mayo's Hawthorne experiments (1924–32) showed that social and human factors affect productivity.
The theory of bureaucracy was given by:
- A) Max Weber ✔
- B) Peter Drucker
- C) Luther Gulick
- D) Lyndall Urwick
Why: Max Weber gave the theory of bureaucracy: hierarchy, written rules, specialisation and impersonality.
Management by Objectives (MBO) was introduced by:
- A) Peter Drucker ✔
- B) Henri Fayol
- C) F. W. Taylor
- D) Chester Barnard
Why: Peter Drucker introduced MBO in 'The Practice of Management' (1954).
Who is called the father of public administration?
- A) Woodrow Wilson ✔
- B) Luther Gulick
- C) Max Weber
- D) Kautilya
Why: Woodrow Wilson is the father of public administration for his 1887 essay 'The Study of Administration'.
Doing things right is called:
- A) Effectiveness
- B) Efficiency ✔
- C) Productivity
- D) Coordination
Why: Efficiency means doing things right: getting the most output from the least input.
Achieving the right goals is called:
- A) Efficiency
- B) Economy
- C) Effectiveness ✔
- D) Equity
Why: Effectiveness means doing the right things: achieving the intended goals.
Which skill is most important for top-level managers?
- A) Technical
- B) Conceptual ✔
- C) Clerical
- D) Physical
Why: Conceptual skill, seeing the whole organisation and its environment, matters most at the top level.
Which skill is needed at all levels of management?
- A) Human skill ✔
- B) Technical skill
- C) Conceptual skill
- D) Design skill
Why: Human skill, working well with people, is needed equally at all levels.
The three managerial skills were described by:
- A) Robert Katz ✔
- B) Henri Fayol
- C) Elton Mayo
- D) Abraham Maslow
Why: Robert Katz described technical, human and conceptual skills in 1955.
Which is NOT one of Fayol's five functions?
- A) Planning
- B) Commanding
- C) Staffing ✔
- D) Controlling
Why: Fayol's five functions are planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Staffing was added by others, such as Gulick.
Budgeting in POSDCORB refers to:
- A) Recruitment
- B) Financial planning and control ✔
- C) Public relations
- D) Coordination
Why: Budgeting covers financial planning, accounting and control of spending.
Fayol's book General and Industrial Management was published in:
- A) 1911
- B) 1916 ✔
- C) 1937
- D) 1954
Why: Fayol's 'General and Industrial Management' was published in French in 1916.
Harold Koontz defined management as:
- A) The art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups ✔
- B) Making profit only
- C) Writing laws
- D) Running courts
Why: Harold Koontz defined management as the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organised groups.
Management is:
- A) Universal, continuous and goal-oriented ✔
- B) Only for factories
- C) A one-time act
- D) Without goals
Why: Management is universal (needed everywhere), continuous (never stops) and goal-oriented.
Management is both an art and a:
- A) Science ✔
- B) Religion
- C) Sport
- D) Law
Why: Management is a science (systematic knowledge) and an art (personal skill in applying it).
Taylor's book was:
- A) The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) ✔
- B) General and Industrial Management
- C) The Practice of Management
- D) The Human Side of Enterprise
Why: Taylor wrote 'The Principles of Scientific Management' in 1911.
Time and motion study is linked with:
- A) F. W. Taylor ✔
- B) Fayol
- C) Mayo
- D) Drucker
Why: F. W. Taylor used time and motion studies to find the best way to do each task.
Differential piece rate was proposed by:
- A) Taylor ✔
- B) Weber
- C) Gulick
- D) Wilson
Why: Taylor proposed the differential piece-rate system: higher pay for workers who meet the standard output.
Fayol's five functions include planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and:
- A) Controlling ✔
- B) Budgeting
- C) Reporting
- D) Staffing
Why: The fifth function is controlling: checking that work goes according to plan.
Elton Mayo's approach is called:
- A) Human relations approach ✔
- B) Scientific management
- C) Bureaucracy
- D) Systems approach
Why: Elton Mayo's approach is the human relations approach, focusing on people's social needs at work.
Peter Drucker's book is:
- A) The Practice of Management (1954) ✔
- B) The Study of Administration
- C) Papers on the Science of Administration
- D) Principles of Scientific Management
Why: Peter Drucker wrote 'The Practice of Management' (1954), which introduced MBO.
Weber's bureaucracy features hierarchy, written rules, specialisation and:
- A) Impersonality ✔
- B) Favouritism
- C) Informality
- D) Lifetime gifts
Why: Impersonality means decisions follow rules, not personal feelings or relationships.
'One plan for one objective' is Fayol's principle of:
- A) Unity of direction ✔
- B) Unity of command
- C) Order
- D) Equity
Why: Unity of direction: activities with the same objective should have one plan and one head.
Fayol's 'gang plank' allows:
- A) Quick horizontal communication ✔
- B) Promotion
- C) Punishment
- D) Budgeting
Why: The gang plank lets people at the same level communicate directly, with superiors' permission, to save time.
Stability of tenure of personnel means:
- A) Staff should not be changed too frequently ✔
- B) Frequent transfers are good
- C) No staff needed
- D) Lifetime salary without work
Why: Stability of tenure means staff should not be transferred or changed too often, so they gain experience.
Subordination of individual interest to general interest means:
- A) Organisation's interest comes before personal interest ✔
- B) Personal interest first
- C) No interests
- D) Only manager's interest
Why: The organisation's interest comes before any individual's personal interest.
Equity in Fayol's principles means:
- A) Fair and kind treatment of staff ✔
- B) Equal pay for all regardless of work
- C) Shares in company
- D) Profit
Why: Equity means fair and kind treatment of all staff.
Remuneration means:
- A) Fair pay for work ✔
- B) Punishment
- C) Transfer
- D) Leave
Why: Remuneration means fair pay for work, satisfying both staff and the organisation.
A Secretary in a ministry is at which level of management?
- A) Top level ✔
- B) Middle level
- C) Lower level
- D) No level
Why: A Secretary heads a ministry's administration, so it is top-level management.
A Section Officer is mainly at which level?
- A) Middle level ✔
- B) Top level
- C) Lower level only
- D) None
Why: A Section Officer manages a section and links top and lower levels, so it is mainly middle-level management.
Technical skill is most needed at:
- A) Lower (supervisory) level ✔
- B) Top level
- C) No level
- D) Board level only
Why: Technical skill, knowing how to do specific tasks, is most needed at the lower (supervisory) level.
Conceptual skill means:
- A) Seeing the whole picture ✔
- B) Typing fast
- C) Repairing machines
- D) Counting cash
Why: Conceptual skill is the ability to see the whole picture and how parts fit together.
Robert Katz described skills in:
- A) 1955 ✔
- B) 1911
- C) 1937
- D) 1887
Why: Robert Katz described the three skills in a 1955 Harvard Business Review article.
Fayol is called the father of:
- A) Modern (administrative) management ✔
- B) Scientific management
- C) Public administration
- D) Human relations
Why: Fayol is the father of modern (administrative) management.
Who is the father of public administration?
- A) Woodrow Wilson ✔
- B) Taylor
- C) Mayo
- D) Drucker
Why: Woodrow Wilson is the father of public administration.
POSDCORB appeared in:
- A) Papers on the Science of Administration (1937) ✔
- B) The Practice of Management
- C) The Human Side of Enterprise
- D) General and Industrial Management
Why: POSDCORB appeared in 'Papers on the Science of Administration' (1937), edited by Gulick and Urwick.
Which management principle says each employee has one boss?
- A) Unity of command ✔
- B) Unity of direction
- C) Esprit de corps
- D) Order
Why: Unity of command.
'A place for everything and everything in its place' is Fayol's principle of:
- A) Order ✔
- B) Equity
- C) Discipline
- D) Initiative
Why: This is the principle of order: materials and people should be in the right place.
Initiative in Fayol's principles means:
- A) Encouraging staff to think and act on their own ✔
- B) Waiting for orders always
- C) Avoiding work
- D) Punishment
Why: Initiative means encouraging staff to think and act on their own.
Discipline in Fayol's principles means:
- A) Obedience and respect for agreements ✔
- B) No rules
- C) Freedom from all rules
- D) Absence
Why: Discipline means obedience and respect for agreements and rules.
An office that achieves its goals but wastes money is:
- A) Effective but not efficient ✔
- B) Efficient but not effective
- C) Both
- D) Neither
Why: It reaches its goals (effective) but uses too many resources (not efficient).
Management is becoming a profession because it has:
- A) Systematic knowledge and formal training ✔
- B) No knowledge
- C) No rules
- D) Only luck
Why: Management has systematic knowledge, formal training, codes of conduct and professional bodies, like other professions.