(Paper) IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Public Administration (1983)

IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Public Administration (1983)

PAPER - I
SECTION A
1. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each
(a) What is a Matrix type of organizational structure? What are its salient features? Is it more effective than the other ones in present context of human aspirations and attitudes? Why or why not?

(b) Minimax Criteria and Expected Monetary Value have limitations which must be noted well by decision-makers for decision-making. Explain with examples.
(c) What is Simplex Method Duality? Describe its utility.
(d) State if demand analysis has any importance for a firm which is not free to set the price of its product.

2. To remain effective no organization can continue to be Static yet great caution is a must to bring about any change. Substance.

3. (a) Should price of a product conform to cost changes? Why or why not?
(b) In India, business managers are much concerned with fiscal policies as these influence their growth plans. Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer.

SECTION B
PART I (Marketing Management)
4. Answer any three of the following in not than 200 words each:
(a) Consumerism is shame of marketing. Comment.
(b) Define the tasks and responsibilities of marketing manager of (i) an automobiles company,
(ii) a fertilizer manufacturing company.
(c) Establishing consumers’ real needs is a complicated process that requires all the latest techniques of in-depth market survey. Explain.
(d) How will you determine sales quota for different market segments when market share is proposed to be increased from 10% to 15%? Give an example.

5. (a) A new firm engaged in exporting goods has been facing problems like shipment rejections, payment refusals. What should the firm do to resolve the problems and prevent their recurrence?
(b) Can every exporter avail of all the incentives for exports?

6. Successful market introduction of a new Brand is a severe test of competence of all members of the marketing management team. Clearly explain.
PART II (Production and Materials Management)

7. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) How is plant size determined? How will you examine the merits of a choice of a single plant with a capacity of 5000 tons vis-à-vis 5 plants each with a capacity of 1000 tons to meet a product demand which is likely to grow from 1000 tons to 5000 tons over a period of 5 years?

(b) Enumerate basic management decisions which should be communicated to a layout planner. How will he proceed to develop a good layout?
(c) Production scheduling in job-shop type of manufacturing system is more complicated than that in a continuous process system of manufacturing. Explain. Also name the quantitative techniques useful for the purpose.
(d) What is Reorder point? How is it ascertained? Give an example.

8. ‘Look’, once remarked a materials manager, “there was a time when production men often complained about materials shortages. So I built up inventory of materials which will meet the requirements for three years. But they are not using the materials and I am finding fault with them.’ Discuss the pros and cons of the action taken by materials manager. State what you would have done.

9. (a) Assuming that 100 units per day shift per month can be produced, write a production plan to meet sale forecast of 1200 unit per annum.
(b) State the considerations one must weigh to decide if any change should be made in production plan in case the estimated monthly sales actually exceed or fall short of the average 100 units by 20% to 40% from month to month.

PART III (Financial Management)
10. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) Accounting ratios axe more useful in raising questions for further enquiry rather than making firm conclusions. Explain with appropriate examples.
(b) Is the new issue (of equity or debentures) under priced? Why or why not?
(c) Describe the salient features of Indian Capital market.
(d) Explain performance budgeting and its utility and limitations, if any.

11. Management policies and effectiveness of control significantly influence the financial requirements of a firm and so do the Government’s fiscal policies substantiate the statement giving one instance from fixed assets and one from current assets.

12. (a) Will you approve debt financing of an expansion plan of a closely held private company if it promises 36% return on investment and requires lowering of dividend rate by 2% and payment of interest at the rate of 18% for a period of 10 years ? Give reasons.
(b) Examine the view that appraising investment for expansion differs from that for replacement investment

PART IV (Personnel Management)
13. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each
(a) Narrate the specific issues related to Man-Power Planning in the context of changing socioeconomic and technological environment of an enterprise;
(b) Discuss the role of sensitivity training in development of managerial personnel in a traditionally managed organization.
(c) What is Government’s tripartite labour machinery? Describe its working.
(d) Domination of Indian Trade Unions by outside leadership is at the root of industrial indiscipline. Examine critically.

14. (a) Motivation is a matter of employee attitude and environment. There is very little that managers can do anything to motivate people. Do you agree? If so, why? If not, why not?

(b) Explain how managers should deal with conflict/s witnessed almost in every organization.

15. (a) Define the aim and scope of Industrial Disputes Act.
(b) Give briefly your views about present state of Industrial Relations in India.

PAPER - II
SECTION A
1. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each
(a) ‘Administrators are.... the stabilizers of society and the guardians of tradition. They are stabilizers in both a positive and a negative, sense.
(b) ‘The principles’ (of organization), ‘however convenient as a shortcut method of thinking, are only guides in action. If they become rules — rigid — they lose their utility.’

(c) ‘Leadership is influence with people, not power over them’
(d) ‘Decision is essentially a process rather than an isolated act without continuity in time.’

2. (a) Development Administration ‘covers a wide horizon and includes not merely the creation or utilization of material resources but also the change in outlook, customs and institutions.’ Explain.

(b) Discuss the utility and limitations of behavioral approach to the study of Public Administration.

3. (a) ‘Authority is not based upon formal position but on the capacity to act in accordance with the ‘law of the situation” Discuss.

(b) ‘One of the great needs of modem public administration is for the generalist— the coordinator — who has the genius to build something worthwhile out of the special efforts of individual performers.’ Discuss the statement and also point out the factors that limit the degree of coordination that can be achieved in any given organization.

4. (a) Discuss the role of the Chief Executive and examine the view that ‘political management is the first function of the Chief Executive.’

(b) ‘When the executive branch seems to be getting out of hand...the legislature has many ways to put administrators in their place, if it has the will and the wit to do so. The legislature also has many ways of checking on the manner in which public administrators discharge their legal mandates.’ Elaborate.

SECTION B
5. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘The State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State.’

(Article 50 of the Indian Constitution)
(b) ‘In the context of the colonial background of Indian administration, any significant administrative reform is apt to diffuse the power and authority of the bureaucracy which, armed with this fore knowledge, mobilizes itself to frustrate or ritualize it.’

(c) ‘Both democracy and the party system as has evolved in India have tended to bring down the prestige and the standing of the Chief Minister’s office.’
(d) ‘People’s participation in administration in India has largely been a myth.’

6. (a) Examine the view that the system of parliamentary democracy has tended to undermine the effectiveness of administration in India.
(b) ‘The well-ordered bureaucracy left by the British has not yet been replaced by an equally wellordered one more fitted to the needs of the new planning and welfare State.’ This observation was made about twenty years ago. How far is it valid today?

7. (a) Examine the organization and functions of the Railway Board. Do you think that it should be replaced by a statutory corporation? Give reasons for your answer.
(b) What changes, if any, in the organization and functions of the Planning Commission do you consider necessary to make it a more efficient agency for planning?

8. (a) Discuss the changes introduced in the role of the District Collector since Independence. Do you think that some important components of district administration have suffered as a result of these changes?

(b) ‘The discussion of the official-non-official relationship in Panchayati Raj...in terms ‘of mutual goodwill, understanding and a bonhomie without a careful analysis of the structural relationship of the Panchyati Raj would be merely an over-simplification.’ Examine.