Directions (1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Management is a set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly. The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting, organising, staffing, controlling, and problem solving. Leadership is a set of processes that creates organisations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles. This distinction is absolutely crucial for our purposes here. Successful transformation is 70 to 90 per cent leadership and only 10 to 30 per cent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organisations today don’t have much leadership. And almost everyone thinks about the problem here as one of managing change.
For most of this century, as we created thousands and thousands of large organisations for the first time in human history, we didn’t have enough good managers to keep all those bureaucracies functioning. So many companies and universities developed management programs, and hundreds and thousands of people were encouraged to learn management on the job. And they did. But people were taught little about leadership. To some degree, management was emphasized because it’s easier to teach than leadership. But even more so, management was the main item on the twentieth-century agenda because that’s what was needed.
For every entrepreneur or business builder who was a leader, we needed hundreds of managers to run their ever-growing enterprises. Unfortunately for us today, this emphasis on management has often been institutionalized in corporate cultures that discourage employees from learning how to lead. Ironically, past success is usually the key ingredient in producing this outcome. The syndrome, as I have observed it on many occasions, goes like this: Success creates some degree of market dominance, which in turn produces much growth. After a while keeping the ever-larger organization under control becomes the primary challenge. So, attention turns inward, and managerial competencies are nurtured.
With a strong emphasis on management but not leadership, bureaucracy and an inward focus take over. But with continued success, the result mostly of market dominance, the problem often goes unaddressed and an unhealthy arrogance being to evolve. All of these characteristics then make any transformation effort much more difficult.
Arrogant managers can over-evaluate their current performance and competitive position, listen poorly, and learn slowly. Inwardly focused employees can have difficulty seeing the very forces that present threats and opportunities. Bureaucratic cultures can smother
those who want to respond to shifting conditions. And the lack of leadership leaves no force inside these organizations to break out of the morass.
Q1. Which of the following is not the characteristic of bureaucratic culture?
(a) Managers listen poorly and learn slowly.
(b) Managerial competencies are nurtured.
(c) Employee clearly see the forces that present threats and opportunities.
(d) Prevalence of unhealthy arrogance.
(e) Managers tend to stifle initiative and innovation.
Q2. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?
(a) Bureaucratic culture smother those who want to respond to changing conditions.
(b) Leadership produces change and has the potential to establish direction.
(c) Pressure on managers come mostly from within.
(d) Leadership centres on carrying out important functions such as planning and problem solving.
(e) Managers believe that they are the best and that their idiosyncratic traditions are superior.
Q3. Why did companies and universities develop programmes to prepare managers in such a large number?
(a) Companies and Universities wanted to generate funds through these programmes.
(b) The large number of organisations were created and they needed managers in good number.
(c) Organisations did not want to spend their scarce resources in training managers.
(d) Organisations wanted to create communication network through trained managers.
(e) None of these
Q4. Management education was emphasized in the management programs because:
(a) establishing direction was the main focus of organisations.
(b) motivating employees was thought to be done by managers.
(c) strategies for producing change was the main focus of organisations.
(d) organisations wanted to create powerful guiding coalition.
(e) management was the main item agenda in organizations.
Q5. How, the author, has defined management?
(a) It is the process of adapting organisations to changing circumstances.
(b) It is the system of aligning people with the direction it has taken.
(c) It refers to creating a vision to help direct the change effort.
(e) Creating better performance through customer orientation.
(d) None of these
Q6. Why, according to the author, a distinction between management and leadership is crucial?
(a) Leaders are reactive whereas managers are proactive.
(b) Organisations are facing problems of not getting good managers.
(c) Organisations are pursuing the strategy of status-quo
(d) In today’s context organisations need leaders much more than managers in transforming them
(e) None of these
Q7. What, according to the author, is leadership?
(a) Process which keeps system of people and technology running smoothly.
(b) Planning the future and budgeting resources of the organization.
(c) Planning the future and inspiring people to realise the vision
(d) Carrying out the crucial functions of management.
(e) None of these
Q8. Why were people taught little about leadership in management programmes?
(a) Teachers were busy in understanding the phenomenon of leadership
(b) Enough study material was not available to facilitate teaching of leadership.
(c) Focus of these programmes was on developing managers.
(d) Leadership was considered only a political phenomenon.
(e) None of these
Q9. Which of the following is similar in meaning of the word ‘smother‘ as used in the passage?
(a) suppress
(b) encourage
(c) instigate
(d) criticise
(e) attack
Q10. Which of the following is opposite in meaning of the word ‘nurtured‘ as used in the passage?
(a) created
(b) developed
(c) thwarted
(d) surfaced
(e) halted
Solutions
S1. Ans. (c)
Sol. It is clearly given in the last passage that ‘Inwardly focused employees can have difficulty seeing the very forces that present threats and opportunities’. From this we can infer that (c) is not the characteristic of bureaucratic culture. Hence (c) is the correct option.
S2. Ans. (d)
Sol. According to the passage, planning and problem solving are the important aspects of the management and not leadership. Hence, (d) is the correct options
S3. Ans. (b)
Sol. It is given in the second paragraph of the passage that ‘……as we created thousands and thousands of large organisations, we didn’t have enough good managers to keep all those bureaucracies functioning….’. From this we can easily infer that (b) is the correct option.
S4. Ans. (e)
Sol. In order to give reason for emphasizing on management education, it is given in the last line of second paragraph that ‘management was the main item on the twentieth-century agenda because that’s what was needed’ from this we can infer that (e) is the correct option.
S5. Ans. (e)
Sol. Author defines management as ‘a set of processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly’ no option goes with the meaning of the same. Hence (e) is the correct option.
S6. Ans. (d)
Sol. In the first paragraph of the given passage, author has introduced various aspects of leadership over those of management after which he says ‘Successful transformation is 70 to 90 per cent leadership and only 10 to 30 per cent management’. From this we can conclude that (d) is the most appropriate option.
S7. Ans. (c)
Sol. It is given in the first paragraph of the passage that ‘Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles.’. Hence, (c) is the correct option.
S8. Ans. (c)
Sol. In the second paragraph it is given that ‘……people were encouraged to learn management on the job. And they did. But, people were taught little about leadership…..’. From this, we can infer that the main focus was on management studies. Hence, (c) is the most appropriate option.
S9. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘smother’ means ‘a feeling of being trapped and oppressed’. Hence, ‘suppress’ is the word which is similar in meaning to it.
S10. Ans. (b)
Sol. ‘nurtured’ means ‘care for and protect (someone or something) while they are growing.’. Hence, ‘developed’ is the word which is opposite in meaning to it.
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