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Strategy To Prepare Management Optional – For UPSC Mains Examination.
- In Paper I, you should focus on OB, HR, finance and marketing. In the accounting section, the UPSC has so far only asked small topics such as marginal costing vs absorption costing, budgeting techniques, inventory management and the like.Continue Reading Strategy To Prepare Management Optional – For UPSC Mains Examination.
- Even in the finance section, they ask theory-based questions.
- OB and HR are really important in Paper I because they make up about 80% of the questions asked.
- You will have a choice in either marketing or finance. But as mentioned before, HR and OB is a must.
- Even though it is a theoretical paper, try to write in points and with subheadings.
- Since the questions are direct and everyone gives the same content, try to make the answer presentation good and appealing.
- Draw diagrams and tables when necessary.
- For case studies in this paper, it is advisable to stick to simple formulas and basic framework and models. Study basic concepts like the BCG Matrix, Porter’s Five, MCKinsey’s framework, etc. There is no need to get into advanced models.
- Do go through previous UPSC question papers. At least 50% of the questions are repeated.
Paper I strategy
Managerial Function and Process – this part is best covered from the book ‘Fundamentals of Management’ by DeCenzo, Agarwal, Bhattacharya and Robbins.
Marketing Management – ‘Marketing Management’ by Philip Kotler will cover this section comprehensively.
Accounting for Managers – For this section, you can refer to ‘Cost and Management Accounting’ by MN Arora.
Organisation Behaviour and Design – For this section, you can refer to ‘Organization Behaviour’ by Stephen Robbins.
Financial Management – This part can be covered from ‘Financial Management’ by Prasanna Chandra. You can also use Rustagi’s ‘Fundamentals of Financial Management’ as a reference book.
Paper II strategy
Quantitative Techniques in Decision-Making – For this section, you can refer to ‘Quantitative Approaches to Management’ by Levin and Rubin. Repeated areas asked are: mean, median, mode, graphical method in linear programming, numerical on simplex method, Bayes Theorem, correlation and regression line.
Production and Operations Management – This is the lengthiest section in the entire syllabus. You can use ‘Operations Management’ by Heizer and Render.
International Business – The best book for this section is ‘International Business’ by Hill and Jain.
Government Business Interface – This section can be covered from ‘Business Environment’ by AC Fernando. Please remember that only selective reading is needed from this book. Only about 10% of it is needed, so you do not have to buy this book.
Strategic Cost Management – ‘Strategic Management’ by Hill and Jones is a good book for this section. About 60% of the topics are found in this book. The rest of it can be obtained from online sources.
Management Information Systems – For this section, you can use ‘Management Information Systems’ by either Laudon or O’Brien.
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