Question

Explain the following characteristics of the principles of management :

(i) Primarily practical

(ii) Cause and effect relationship

(iii) Uncertain/Accidental

Hint:

Explain each characteristic in two or three lines: formed by experience, link between cause and effect, and dependence on the situation.

Answer 1

Step 1: Meaning of the characteristics:
Characteristics of principles of management describe what kind of rules they are. Three of them are asked here.
In the NCERT list, the first matches the feature formed by practice and experimentation, and the third matches the contingent feature.

Step 2: (i) Primarily practical:
Principles of management are not made in an office on imagination. They are formed by practice and experience of managers over many years.
They are also tested by experiments and by the collective wisdom of managers. A principle is accepted only when it has worked in real situations.
Therefore they can be trusted and used in daily work.

Step 3: (ii) Cause and effect relationship:
Principles try to show the link between a cause and its effect, so that they can be used in similar situations in many cases.
In real life no two situations are exactly alike, so an accurate cause and effect link is hard to prove.
Even so, principles help managers to establish this link to some extent, and that makes them useful.

Step 4: (iii) Uncertain or accidental (contingent):
The use of a principle depends on the situation at a particular time. A principle that works today may not work in the same way tomorrow.
The results cannot be promised in advance, since many factors affect them.
So the manager has to change the application as per the needs of the moment.

Final Answer:
The principles are practical because they come from experience, they show cause and effect to some extent, and their use is uncertain because it depends on the situation.