Unit 1
Introduction
6 topics · 2 h 06 min to read · 19% of the marks DU has asked
1.1Management: Meaning, Nature, Functions and Importance
18 min read
Management is getting work done through other people so that a group reaches its goals with the least waste. This topic covers what management means, its nature, its levels and functions, and why every organisation needs it.
1.1.1Organisations and management in our lives
1.1.2Meaning of management
1.1.3Nature of management
1.1.4Importance of management
1.1.5Levels of management
1.1.6Managerial functions
1.2Coordination
17 min read
Coordination fits together the work of different people, departments and levels so that the organisation acts as one. This topic covers its meaning and nature, why it is the essence of management, Mintzberg's coordination mechanisms, Follett's principles, the techniques managers use, and its limits.
1.2.1Meaning and nature: the essence of management
1.2.2Need and importance of coordination
1.2.3Coordination mechanisms in organisations (Mintzberg)
1.2.4Principles of effective coordination
1.2.5Techniques of coordination
1.2.6Difficulties and limits of coordination
1.3Management Theories: Classical, Neo-classical and Modern
28 min read
(B.Com Hons only.) Management thought grew in stages: the classical school looked for the one best way to run work and organisations, the neo-classical school discovered the human and social side of work, and modern approaches see the organisation as a system whose right practice depends on the situation. DU asks most about the Hawthorne experiments, the systems approach and the contingency approach.
1.3.1The schools of thought at a glance
1.3.2Classical: Taylor's scientific management
1.3.3Classical: Fayol's administrative theory and 14 principles
1.3.4Classical: Weber's bureaucracy, and the limits of the classical school
1.3.5Neo-classical: the Hawthorne experiments
1.3.6Neo-classical: the human relations and behavioural science approaches
1.3.7Modern: the systems approach
1.3.8Modern: the contingency approach
1.4Managerial Roles and Competencies
10 min read
The functions say what management is for; Mintzberg's roles describe what managers actually do all day, and competencies describe what a person needs to do it well. This topic covers Mintzberg's ten roles, the three managerial skills, and the meaning, nature and two main approaches to managerial competencies.
1.4.1Mintzberg's managerial roles
1.4.2Managerial skills
1.4.3Managerial competencies
1.5Indian Ethos for Management
14 min read
Indian ethos for management applies values drawn from India's own traditions to running organisations: management that begins with the manager's character and aims at the welfare of all. It is in Unit 1 for B.Com Hons and Unit 5 for B.Com Prog; this topic covers its meaning, need and principles, value-oriented holistic management, and lessons from the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana.
1.5.1Indian ethos for management: meaning, need and relevance
1.5.2Principles of Indian ethos for management
1.5.3Value-oriented holistic management
1.5.4Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita for managers
1.5.5Lessons from the Ramayana for managers
1.6Ownership Forms and Business Formats
39 min read
(B.Com Prog only.) Anyone starting a business makes two early choices: the legal form of ownership (who owns it, who bears the risk, what the law requires) and the business format (shop, online, or both), along with ways of growing such as franchising and outsourcing. This topic covers each form and format, the One Person Company, e-commerce, franchising and outsourcing, and how to choose.
1.6.1Forms of ownership at a glance, and how to choose one
1.6.2Sole proprietorship, Joint Hindu Family business and partnership
1.6.3Cooperative society, company and limited liability partnership
1.6.4One Person Company
1.6.5Business formats: brick and mortar, click, brick and click
1.6.6E-commerce and e-business
1.6.7Franchising
1.6.8Outsourcing
1.6.9Choosing a business format for a product
Unit 2
Planning
5 topics · 1 h 53 min to read · 20% of the marks DU has asked
2.1Planning
22 min read
Planning is deciding today what the organisation will do tomorrow, how, when and by whom. This topic covers what planning is and its features, why it matters and where it falls short, the steps of the planning process with its premises, the kinds of plans, and how planning and controlling depend on each other.
2.1.1Planning: meaning, nature and features
2.1.2Importance and limitations of planning; is planning a mere ritual
2.1.3The planning process and planning premises
2.1.4Types of plans
2.1.5Planning and controlling
2.2Objectives and Management by Objectives
17 min read
(B.Com Hons only.) Every plan starts from objectives. This topic covers what objectives are and their nature, the two ways of setting them (handed down from the top, or agreed with the people who must reach them), and management by objectives (MBO): its meaning, features, steps, benefits, limits and how to make it work.
2.2.1Objectives: meaning, nature and the marks of a good objective
2.2.2Approaches to goal setting: traditional and modern
2.2.3Management by objectives: meaning and features
2.2.4The MBO process, step by step
2.2.5Benefits and limitations of MBO, and how to make it work
2.3Decision-making
26 min read
A decision is a choice among alternatives, and managers make them in every function. This topic covers what decision-making is and its kinds, the conditions decisions are made under (certainty, risk, uncertainty), perfect and bounded rationality, the steps of a rational decision, the techniques for individual decisions (including decision trees and simulation), and group decision-making with brainstorming, the nominal group technique, Delphi and consensus mapping.
2.3.1Decision-making: meaning, nature and kinds of decisions
2.3.2The decision-making environment: certainty, risk and uncertainty
2.3.3Rationality: perfect and bounded rationality
2.3.4The rational decision-making process
2.3.5Techniques for individual decisions, including the decision tree and simulation
2.3.6Group decision-making and its techniques
2.4Business Environment
23 min read
A business works inside a setting it does not control: customers, rivals, suppliers, its industry, the economy, society, government, technology and the wider world. This topic covers what the business environment is and why it matters, its layers (micro, meso and macro, with the international layer the B.Com Prog syllabus adds), each layer's parts, and how firms deal with an uncertain environment.
2.4.1Business environment: meaning, features and importance
2.4.2Layers of the business environment
2.4.3The micro environment
2.4.4The meso environment
2.4.5The macro environment, and the international layer
2.4.6Dealing with an uncertain environment
2.5Strategy
25 min read
A strategy is the firm's long-term game plan for winning in its environment. This topic covers planning compared with strategy and the levels of strategy, strategic planning and its steps, the SWOT and ETOP tools for reading the firm and its environment, industry structure through Porter's five forces, Porter's business-level (generic) strategies, and the corporate-level strategies the B.Com Prog syllabus names.
2.5.1Planning vis-à-vis strategy; meaning and levels of strategy
2.5.2Strategic planning: meaning, features and steps
2.5.3Environmental analysis tools: SWOT and ETOP
2.5.4Industry structure: Porter's five forces
2.5.5Business-level strategies: Porter's generic strategies
2.5.6Corporate-level strategies
Unit 3
Organising
3 topics · 1 h 33 min to read · 16% of the marks DU has asked
3.1Delegation, Centralisation and Decentralisation
30 min read
Organising turns a plan into a working arrangement of jobs, departments and reporting lines. This topic opens with what organising is, then covers the three ideas every reporting line rests on (authority, responsibility and accountability), how a manager passes work and power down (delegation), what gets in its way, and how far an organisation spreads decisions down its levels (centralisation and decentralisation).
3.1.1Organising at a glance: meaning, process and importance
3.1.2Authority, responsibility and accountability; types of authority
3.1.3Delegation: meaning, elements and process
3.1.4Difficulties in delegation and guidelines for effective delegation
3.1.5Centralisation and decentralisation: meaning and comparison
3.1.6Degree of decentralisation, its factors, and delegation versus decentralisation
3.2Organisational Design and Structures
44 min read
Once work is divided and authority passed down, the parts must be arranged into a structure. This topic covers the principles of a sound structure and the span of management, what organisational design is and what shapes it, the bases of departmentalisation, the traditional structures (line, line and staff, functional, divisional), the modern ones (project, matrix, team, network or virtual, boundaryless), which structure suits which situation and how structures change as firms grow, and how a structure is drawn as an organogram. The B.Com Hons line names design, departmentalisation, traditional and modern structures and organograms; the B.Com Prog line names divisional, product, matrix, project and virtual organisations.
3.2.1Principles of organisation and the span of management
3.2.2Organisational design: meaning and the factors that shape it
3.2.3Departmentalisation: the bases; function versus product
3.2.4Traditional structures, I: line, line and staff, and functional organisation
3.2.5Traditional structures, II: the divisional structure (product and territorial)
3.2.6Modern structures, I: project and matrix organisation
3.2.7Modern structures, II: team, network or virtual, and boundaryless organisation
3.2.8Which structure suits which situation, and how structures change over time
3.2.9Organograms (organisation charts)
3.3Formal and Informal Organisation
18 min read
Every organisation has two sides. The formal organisation is the structure management designs on purpose; the informal organisation is the web of friendships and groups that grows up by itself among the people inside it. This topic covers each side, why informal groups form, the problems they can cause and how a manager should handle them, and how the two sides differ and depend on each other.
3.3.1Formal organisation: meaning, features, advantages and limitations
3.3.2Informal organisation: meaning, features, benefits and limitations; the grapevine
3.3.3Informal groups: why they form, the problems they create, and how to handle them
3.3.4Formal and informal organisation compared; why both are needed
Unit 4
Directing and Controlling
4 topics · 1 h 58 min to read · 22% of the marks DU has asked
4.1Motivation
31 min read
Plans and structures do nothing until people choose to work hard on them. This topic covers what motivation is and how it works, why it matters, what affects it, the three need-based theories both courses name (Maslow's need hierarchy, Herzberg's two factors, McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y), and the two lines only the B.Com Prog syllabus names: Adams' equity theory and financial and non-financial incentives.
4.1.1Motivation: meaning, features and process
4.1.2Importance of motivation
4.1.3Factors affecting motivation
4.1.4Maslow's need hierarchy theory
4.1.5Herzberg's two-factor theory
4.1.6McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
4.1.7Equity theory
4.1.8Incentives: financial and non-financial
4.2Leadership and Followership
25 min read
A manager gives orders by right of position; a leader gets people to follow willingly. This topic covers what leadership is and why it is called the essence of management, what shapes a leader's success, the leadership styles and how to choose one, transactional and transformational leadership, the main theories of leadership including the situational view, and followership with Robert Kelley's model of five kinds of follower. Both courses name leadership styles and followership; the B.Com Prog line also names transactional versus transformational leadership and Kelley's model, and the B.Com Hons guidelines name Kelley as well.
4.2.1Leadership: meaning, features and importance
4.2.2Factors affecting leadership; qualities of a leader; born or made
4.2.3Leadership styles and choosing a style
4.2.4Transactional and transformational leadership
4.2.5Theories of leadership and the situational view
4.2.6Followership: meaning, importance, and leader and follower compared
4.2.7Kelley's model of followership
4.3Communication
17 min read
(B.Com Prog only.) Every plan, order, report and word of praise travels by communication, so a manager who cannot communicate cannot manage. This topic covers what communication is and how the process works, why it matters so much in a modern organisation, its channels and networks (formal and informal), the barriers that block it and how to remove them, and the new trends the syllabus names: the role of information technology and social media.
4.3.1Communication: meaning, process and importance
4.3.2Channels and networks: formal and informal communication
4.3.3Barriers to communication and how to remove them
4.3.4New trends: information technology and social media in business communication
4.4Controlling
44 min read
Controlling checks that what happens matches what was planned, and puts it right when it does not. This topic covers what control is and why it matters, the control process, the principles of an effective control system (with control by exception), the link with planning, the measures of control (the traditional ones, budgetary control and financial ratios, and the modern ones, economic value added, market value added, the balanced scorecard and network analysis by PERT and CPM), and accountability for performance. The B.Com Hons guidelines name every measure; the B.Com Prog line names the techniques of controlling and the planning-controlling relationship.
4.4.1Controlling: meaning, nature, importance and limits
4.4.2The control process
4.4.3Principles of an effective control system, and control by exception
4.4.4Planning and controlling
4.4.5Measures of control at a glance
4.4.6Traditional measures, I: budgets and budgetary control
4.4.7Traditional measures, II: financial ratios
4.4.8Modern measures, I: economic value added and market value added
4.4.9Modern measures, II: the balanced scorecard
4.4.10Modern measures, III: network analysis by PERT and CPM
4.4.11Accountability for performance
Unit 5
Salient Developments and Contemporary Issues in Management
4 topics · 1 h 53 min to read · 23% of the marks DU has asked
5.1Contemporary Issues in Management
44 min read
Management today works in a world of open borders, digital tools, mixed workforces and new ideas about why a business exists. This topic covers the B.Com Hons Unit 5 line (21st-century challenges; the forces reshaping management purpose, performance and rewards; internationalisation; digitalisation; workplace diversity; democracy and sociocracy; subaltern ideas from India) and the B.Com Prog Unit 5 line (business process reengineering, six sigma, the learning organisation, supply chain management, diversity and inclusion, new ways of working, subaltern ideas). Make in India, asked in two B.Com Prog papers, closes the topic. DU sets these as short notes: for each, learn a meaning, five or six points and one example.
5.1.1Management challenges of the 21st century
5.1.2Factors reshaping management purpose, performance and reward perceptions
5.1.3Internationalisation
5.1.4Digitalisation
5.1.5Workplace diversity and inclusion
5.1.6Democracy and sociocracy at work
5.1.7Subaltern management ideas from India
5.1.8Business process reengineering and six sigma
5.1.9Learning organisation
5.1.10Supply chain management
5.1.11New ways of working: work-life balance, flexi-time, work from home, freelancing, co-working
5.1.12Make in India
5.2Entrepreneurship, Innovation and MSMEs
31 min read
Entrepreneurs turn ideas into enterprises, and most of India's enterprises are small. B.Com Hons studies entrepreneurship and innovation here in Unit 5; B.Com Prog studies the same ideas in Unit 2, together with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the government's policy for them. The topic runs from the entrepreneur and the process of starting up, through innovation, to the legal definition of MSMEs, their problems and the support schemes.
5.2.1Entrepreneurship: meaning, features and role in the economy
5.2.2Entrepreneurship as a process; idea generation and its sources
5.2.3Identifying business opportunities
5.2.4Business and social entrepreneurship
5.2.5Innovation
5.2.6MSMEs: definition, classification and role
5.2.7Problems of small business
5.2.8Government policy for MSMEs
5.3Business Ethics, Values and Social Responsibility
23 min read
A business is allowed by society to earn profit, so society expects it to behave rightly in return. This topic covers business ethics, the role of values in management, the social responsibility of business and its duties to each group it deals with, and the legal duty of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Companies Act, 2013. B.Com Hons reads it as Unit 5's "values and ethics"; B.Com Prog studies business ethics and social responsibility in Unit 2.
5.3.1Business ethics: meaning, features, significance and elements
5.3.2Values in management
5.3.3Social responsibility of business: concept and the arguments
5.3.4Responsibility towards different interest groups
5.3.5Corporate social responsibility under the Companies Act, 2013
5.4Case Studies on Indian Corporates
15 min read
(B.Com Hons only.) The Hons syllabus pairs "values and ethics" with case studies on Tata, the Bhilwara Group, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Godrej. The 2024 guidelines move case work to continuous assessment, but recent end-term papers have still set a long case. This topic gives a method for any case, the ideas these cases test, and what each firm's case has shown about its values, ethics, social responsibility and sustainability. In the exam, every fact must come from the passage printed in the paper.