The nature of Principles of Management is summarized by:
(A) They are intended to establish a relationship between cause and effect.
(B) Their application is contingent upon the prevailing situation at a particular point of time.
(C) They provide ready-made, straitjacket solutions to all managerial problems.
(D) The principles of management are formed by experience and collective wisdom of managers as well as experimentation.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B) and (D) only
(A) They are intended to establish a relationship between cause and effect. — Correct. A principle tells the manager what is likely to happen if a certain action is taken. This is the cause-and-effect nature of principles.
(B) Their application is contingent upon the prevailing situation at a particular point of time. — Correct. Principles are contingent: how they are applied depends on the situation at that time.
(C) They provide ready-made, straitjacket solutions to all managerial problems. — Incorrect. Principles are general guidelines, not fixed answers. Real business situations are complex, so a manager has to adapt a principle to each case.
(D) The principles of management are formed by experience and collective wisdom of managers as well as experimentation. — Correct. Principles are formed by practice and experimentation. They come from the experience of managers over many years and from tested study.
NCERT (2026-27 Edition): “General guidelines: The principles are guidelines to action but do not provide readymade, straitjacket solutions to all managerial problems. …” “Formed by practice and experimentation: The principles of management are formed by experience and collective wisdom of managers as well as experimentation. …” “Cause and effect relationships: The principles of management are intended to establish relationship between cause and effect so that they can be used in similar situations in a large number of cases. As such, they tell us if a particular principle was applied in a particular situation, what would be its likely effect. …” “Contingent: The application of principles of management is contingent or dependent upon the prevailing situation at a particular point of time. The application of principles has to be changed as per requirements. …” |