Question

Explain why is it said that principles of management are 'mainly behavioural' and 'contingent' in nature. Also explain how principles of management 'provides managers with useful insights into reality' and 'helps in thoughtful decision-making'.

Answer 1

Principles of management can be considered ‘mainly behavioural’, ‘contingent’ in character and ‘provides managers with useful insights into reality’ and ‘helps in thoughtful decisionmaking’.These points can be elaborated as follows:

i. Mainly behavioural: The principles of management are considered ‘mainly behavioural’ because these principles are directly affected by the individual behaviour of various people, and their application and outcomes are different according to the discretion of the people involved. Also, these principles attempt to develop a reliable network of people and resources to achieve organisational goals.

ii. Contingent: Principles of management are also fairly contingent in their applicability as they can be implemented in different situations according to the individual nature of the superior and the need of the particular situation.

iii. Provides managers with useful insights into reality: Management principles are created through continuous experimentation and real-life case studies. Hence, these principles provide management with the expertise to face real-world business situations. Managers can use the principles to cope with numerous and recurring business problems.

iv. Helps in thoughtful decision-making: Careful assessment of anticipated results should be taken into consideration while making critical management choices. They are created by considering the results of real-life business scenarios rather than individual thought process. Hence, management principles allow managers to take better decisions which are not influenced directly by the opinion of a particular individual only.