Looking for the Principles of Management Class 12 chapter? This is Chapter 2 of the NCERT Business Studies Part I textbook for Class 12, and the official chapter file runs to 39 printed pages. The PDF is right below.
Beneath it, this page breaks down what the chapter teaches: the concept, nature and significance of management principles, Taylor’s scientific management, Fayol’s 14 principles, and the comparison between the two thinkers.
Download the Principles of Management Class 12 Chapter PDF
NCERT publishes this chapter itself, so the file below is the official edition.
Open the NCERT Class 12 Business Studies Chapter 2 Principles of Management PDF to read the chapter exactly as it appears in the printed book — the Toyota case on page 29, the meaning and nature of principles, both thinkers in full, and the case problems that close the chapter on pages 67-68.
| What the chapter holds | Count | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Printed pages | 39 | |
| Figures with NCERT captions | 2 | |
| Tables | 3 | |
| In-text questions | 2 | |
| Official NCERT PDF | Download the chapter PDF | the chapter exactly as NCERT publishes it |
Chapter at a Glance: What’s Inside the PDF
The table below lists how much this PDF holds — its sections, figures and question blocks — so you know the chapter’s size and shape in one glance.
The chapter is mainly a text-based unit: its ideas are carried by the prose, the two diagrams and the closing case problems rather than by numerical work. The section-by-section map below places every idea in order, from the Toyota case to the case problems.
How the Chapter Is Organised: From Toyota’s Principles to the Case Problems
This map shows where every major idea sits in the PDF, so you can jump straight to the part you need instead of reading the whole file.
- Toyota case (NCERT pp. 29-31): the chapter opens with the guiding principles Toyota Motor Corporation follows, to show that real companies run on written principles.
- Evolution of management thought (pp. 32-33): the six schools that shaped management thinking before Taylor and Fayol.
- The concept of principles (p. 33): what a managerial principle is, and how principles differ from techniques and from values.
- Nature of principles (pp. 34-37): the seven characteristics that define how principles behave.
- Significance of principles (pp. 38-40): what principles actually give a manager — efficiency, scientific decisions, social responsibility and more.
- Taylor’s scientific management (pp. 42-52): four principles, seven techniques and the mental revolution.
- Applications and modern glossary (pp. 53-54): Taylor’s factory results, and terms such as kaizen, six sigma and lean manufacturing.
- Fayol’s 14 principles (pp. 55-62): the second pillar — Fayol’s general theory of administration.
- Fayol vs Taylor (p. 63): seven points of difference, ending with the verdict that the two contributions are complementary.
- Closing recap and exercises (pp. 65-68): the chapter’s own five-part recap, then the exercise blocks ending with the Bhasin Limited case problems.
Three real-life cases run through the chapter, and the in-text questions on page 40 point straight at them. Each illustrates a different idea:
| Case | Where it appears | What it illustrates |
|---|---|---|
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Chapter opener, pp. 29-31 | Management principles act as broad guidelines that steer a company’s vision and its ways of working. |
| Biocon (Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw) | Box in the significance section, p. 37 | Success is “not a mere chance” — it comes from applying management principles directly or indirectly. |
| Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad | Box in the significance section, p. 41 | An organisation can combine business with social responsibility — the Lijjat model blends the concepts of business, family and devotion. |
The Six Schools of Management Thought in One Minute
This quick timeline shows the six phases the chapter traces on pages 32-33. Taylor and Fayol sit inside the Classical phase; the phases around it explain where their ideas came from and what followed them.
| Phase | Key idea | One concrete example from the book |
|---|---|---|
| Early Perspectives (3000-4000 BC) | Large projects ran on sound management even before management was a field of study. | The pyramid built for the Egyptian ruler Cheops in 2900 BC needed 100,000 men working for over twenty years. |
| Classical Management Theory | The era of the industrial revolution and the factory system; scientific management, administrative principles and bureaucracy. | Taylor, Fayol and Weber each proposed a way to organise production — the one best way, the best combination of jobs and people, and rules that remove managerial inconsistency. |
| Neo-Classical Theory / Human Relations Approach (1920s-1950s) | Workers are guided by social needs, drives and attitudes, not only by rules and economic incentives. | The Hawthorne Studies showed that attention to the human factor matters in a way techniques alone cannot capture. |
| Behavioural Science Approach / Organisational Humanism | People need to use all their capacities and creative skills at work as well as at home. | Argyris, McGregor, Maslow and Herzberg built this approach on psychology, sociology and anthropology. |
| Management Science / Operations Research | Research on operations plus quantitative techniques that aid managerial decisions. | Operations research techniques help managers choose between alternatives with measured data. |
| Modern Management | Organisations are complex systems; the contingency approach and modern techniques solve organisational and human problems. | Contingency thinking says the right management action depends on the situation at the time. |
Watch the dates: only the neo-classical phase carries explicit dates (1920s-1950s). The other phases are described by their ideas rather than by years.
Taylor’s Scientific Management: Principles and Techniques
Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer (1856-1915) who belonged to the era of the industrial revolution, when factories were shifting to mass production (NCERT p. 42). He rejected the “rule of thumb” — managing by personal judgment and trial and error — because no two managers’ habits were equally effective (p. 43).
Scientific management means carrying out business activities with standardised tools, methods and trained personnel so that output increases, quality improves and costs and waste fall (p. 44). Taylor’s whole system rests on one belief: for every job there is “one best way”, and science can find it.
Taylor’s Four Principles of Scientific Management
Each principle is a pair: replace the old habit with the scientific result. Learn the four with their one-line examples and you can answer any “explain the principle” question.
| Principle | Core idea | Example that makes it stick |
|---|---|---|
| Science, Not Rule of Thumb (NCERT p. 45) | Replace personal habit with the one best method found through study and analysis, and standardise it across the organisation. | A courier company measures every delivery route for a week, then fixes the single fastest route for all drivers instead of letting each one follow habit. |
| Harmony, Not Discord (pp. 45-46) | Management and workers must see that each side’s prosperity depends on the other; conflict helps nobody. | A factory links a share of productivity gains to a worker bonus, so workers profit from the same decision that profits the company. |
| Cooperation, Not Individualism (pp. 46-47) | Competition between labour and management is replaced by cooperation; both sides listen, and both give up obstruction. | A suggestion scheme rewards workers whose ideas cut costs, so the worker shares in the saving instead of being bypassed. |
| Development of Each Person to Greatest Efficiency and Prosperity (p. 47) | Select workers scientifically, train them, and match the job to their physical, mental and intellectual capabilities. | A packaging unit tests new recruits for hand-eye coordination before placing them on the high-speed line, then trains them on the job. |
The Seven Techniques of Scientific Management
If the four principles are the beliefs, the seven techniques are the tools that make those beliefs work on the shop floor (NCERT p. 48). The first six all feed one idea — science not rule of thumb — and the seventh turns efficiency into pay.
Functional foremanship (p. 48) separates planning from execution. Taylor found that no single foreman had every quality the job demanded, so he split the role into eight specialists — four who plan and four who execute. Under this system a worker takes orders from eight foremen, one for each function of production. Copy this mnemonic into your notes to recall the eight:
| Team | Specialists | Mnemonic |
|---|---|---|
| Planning incharge (brain work) | Instruction card clerk, Route clerk, Time and cost clerk, Disciplinarian | “I Read Time Discipline” — the first letters are Instruction, Route, Time and cost, Discipline. |
| Production incharge (execution) | Speed boss, Gang boss, Repair boss, Inspector | “Some Guys Really Inspect” — the first letters are Speed, Gang, Repair, Inspector. |
| Technique | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Standardisation and simplification (p. 49) | Standardisation sets fixed benchmarks for process, raw material, time, product, machinery, methods or working conditions; simplification removes needless varieties, sizes and dimensions. | A shirt maker that drops 30 rarely sold sizes from its catalogue saves on cloth, storage and tooling. |
| Method study (p. 50) | Finds the one best way to do a job, from the arrival of raw materials to final delivery; it gave Taylor the idea of the assembly line. | Designing a car’s assembly line — deciding the sequence of operations and where men, machines and materials stand — is method study. |
| Motion study (p. 50) | Studies the body movements a job needs — lifting, sitting, changing positions — and eliminates the unproductive ones. | The book’s own result: Taylor and Frank Gilbreth cut brick-laying motions from 18 to 5 and roughly quadrupled productivity. |
| Time study (p. 51) | Fixes the standard time for a well-defined job by measuring each element of the task; it decides how many workers to employ, which incentive schemes to frame and what labour costs will be. | If observation shows a worker takes 12 minutes to pack one carton, she packs 5 cartons an hour. In a 7-hour working day (8-hour shift minus 1 hour for rest) the standard becomes \( 5 \times 7 = 35 \) cartons a day. |
| Fatigue study (p. 51) | Determines how much rest, and how often, a worker needs to regain stamina and keep working at full capacity. | Long working hours, unsuitable work, uncordial relations with the boss and bad working conditions are causes of fatigue this study removes. |
| Differential piece wage system (pp. 51-52) | Pays two different rates per unit so efficient workers are rewarded and inefficient workers are motivated to improve. | Set the standard at 40 units a day, at Rs 30 per unit for efficient workers and Rs 24 per unit for others. An efficient worker making 45 units earns \( 45 \times 30 = 1,350 \) rupees; a slower worker making 32 units earns \( 32 \times 24 = 768 \) rupees. The gap of \( 1,350 – 768 = 582 \) rupees is the pull towards efficiency. |
Notice how the techniques enact the principles: standardisation is science-not-rule-of-thumb made concrete, and the differential wage translates “development of each person” into pay. Taylor’s own results at Bethlehem Steel — a three-fold rise in productivity, and a worker named Schmidt raising pig-iron loading from 12.5 to 47 tons a day for 60 per cent higher wages — are the evidence the chapter cites (pp. 44, 51-53).
Mental Revolution: What Taylor Really Meant
All of Taylor’s principles and techniques are only the surface. The part he insisted mattered most is a change of attitude he called mental revolution (NCERT p. 52).
Workers and management must stop quarrelling over how to divide the existing surplus and instead cooperate to enlarge it: management shares part of the gains, workers drop strikes and unreasonable demands, and both realise they need each other.
The diagram on NCERT page 45 — “Management should share the gains of the company, if any, with the workers” — is exactly this idea in picture form; it is explained with the chapter’s other figure in the figures section below.
Fayol’s 14 Principles of Management
Henri Fayol was a French mining engineer who became Managing Director of his company in 1888 and held the role for thirty years (NCERT p. 55). His contribution complements Taylor’s: Taylor rebuilt the shop floor, while Fayol defined the manager’s job from the top down. For this he is known as the Father of General Management.
Before the 14 principles, Fayol set the frame. The functions of a manager are to plan, organise, command, coordinate and control. Every activity of an industrial undertaking falls into six groups — technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and managerial — and a manager must possess physical, moral, educational, knowledge-based and experiential qualities (pp. 55-56).
The 14 principles below are the rules of conduct for doing that managerial work.
The 14 Principles in One Table
Revise all 14 in a minute with this table. The meaning is one line; the example makes the principle stick.
| Principle | Meaning in one line | Example that makes it stick |
|---|---|---|
| Division of Work (NCERT p. 55) | Work is split into small specialised tasks, each done by a trained specialist. | A pathology lab divides work into sample collection, testing and reporting, each handled by a trained person. |
| Authority and Responsibility (p. 56) | The right to give orders must be balanced by accountability for results. | A sales manager held responsible for a Rs 45 crore deal needs the authority to decide the credit terms that deal requires. |
| Discipline (p. 56) | Employees and managers obey organisational rules and honour their agreements. | A team that keeps training even when its captain is rested is following discipline — commitments hold even when circumstances tempt otherwise. |
| Unity of Command (pp. 56-57) | Every employee receives orders from, and is responsible to, only one superior. | A cashier receiving payment rules from both the store manager and the area manager has no unity of command. |
| Unity of Direction (p. 57) | Every group of activities with the same objective must have one head and one plan. | A snack brand making namkeen and biscuits gives each line its own head and its own production plan, so the two never compete for the same resource. |
| Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest (pp. 57-58) | Organisational goals override any single employee’s personal goals. | A manager must not award a contract to her cousin at a higher price when the company’s usual supplier offers a lower rate. |
| Remuneration of Employees (p. 58) | Pay must be fair to the employee and within the paying capacity of the company. | A fair wage gives the worker a reasonable standard of living without pushing the firm into losses. |
| Centralisation and Decentralisation (p. 58) | Decision-making authority is balanced between concentration and dispersal according to circumstances. | A founder who takes every decision herself runs a centralised firm; a growing chain that lets each branch manager set local pricing is decentralising. |
| Scalar Chain (p. 59) | Formal lines of authority run from the top to the lowest rank, and normal communication follows that chain. | Two clerks at the same level send a routine query up and down their formal lines; only in an emergency does one contact the other directly. |
| Order (p. 60) | “A place for everything and everything in its place” — people and materials in suitable places at the right time. | A workshop with labelled racks for every tool loses far less time to searching. |
| Equity (p. 60) | Managers combine kindness with justice, with no discrimination on any ground. | Promotions decided by measured performance rather than by caste, religion or gender reflect equity. |
| Stability of Personnel (p. 61) | Employees need a minimum fixed tenure so they have time to show results. | A company that replaces branch managers every eight months pays repeated recruitment and training costs for no gain. |
| Initiative (pp. 60-61) | Employees are encouraged to think out and execute their own plans for improvement. | An employee suggestion system rewards suggestions that cut cost or time. |
| Esprit de Corps (p. 62) | Team spirit — a manager should replace “I” with “We” in every conversation. | A production team that celebrates a completed order together works with more mutual trust than one driven only by penalties. |
Unity of Command vs Unity of Direction, Made Simple
These two are the most confused pair in the chapter because both start with “unity”. The book’s own three-point difference is the fastest way to separate them (NCERT p. 58).
| Basis | Unity of Command | Unity of Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | One subordinate receives orders from, and is responsible to, only one superior. | Each group of activities having the same objective must have one head and one plan. |
| Aim | It prevents dual subordination. | It prevents overlapping of activities. |
| Implications | It affects an individual employee. | It affects the entire organisation. |
A restaurant makes the difference concrete. Picture a restaurant with a head chef and a manager. One kitchen helper is told by the head chef to plate the starters first, and by the manager to clean the counter first.
The helper now has two bosses and two instructions — unity of command is violated, and its price is confusion for that one employee.
Now picture the same restaurant opening a second outlet. Each outlet has its own head and its own operating plan, and the two outlets never interfere with each other’s kitchens or menus. That is unity of direction respected — one head and one plan for each group of activities, protecting the whole organisation from overlapping and wastage.
Fayol vs Taylor: A Working Comparison
Case solutions and short answers both love this comparison, so learn the seven rows of the chapter’s own table (NCERT p. 63).
| Basis of difference | Henri Fayol | F.W. Taylor |
|---|---|---|
| Perspective | Top level of management | Shop-floor level of a factory |
| Unity of command | A staunch proponent — one boss per employee | Did not insist on it; under functional foremanship a worker receives orders from eight specialists |
| Applicability | Applicable universally | Applicable to specialised situations |
| Basis of formation | Personal experience | Observation and experimentation |
| Focus | Improving overall administration | Increasing productivity |
| Personality | Practitioner | Scientist |
| Expression | General Theory of Administration | Scientific Management |
The chapter’s verdict: the two contributions are complementary, not rivals — an organisation needs Taylor’s shop-floor efficiency and Fayol’s top-level administration at the same time (p. 63).
Do Fayol’s Principles Still Hold Today?
The chapter answers this with a “Then and Now” comparison drawn from modern management research (NCERT p. 62). A few of its contrasts are striking enough to revise twice:
| Principle | Then | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Division of Work | Specialisation in the worker’s job design | Generalisation in the worker’s job design |
| Authority and Responsibility | Managers are empowered | Employees are empowered |
| Discipline | Formalised controls | Informal, peer-pressure controls |
| Scalar Chain | Hierarchical, formalised communication channel | Less formalised, flatter communication structure |
Figures in This Chapter and What They Mean
The figures in this chapter are worth stopping at: neither draws machinery or data. Each one is a management idea drawn as a workplace behaviour, and both reward a close look.
This first diagram sits inside the discussion of Harmony, Not Discord (NCERT p. 45). Taylor’s argument is that conflict between managers and workers helps nobody, because both sides rise together. The picture makes that argument concrete: when the company gains, some of the gain passes to the workers — which is exactly the behaviour mental revolution demands from management.
If you remember one image from this chapter, remember its message: gains are not kept by one side alone.
The second diagram belongs to Fayol’s principle of Initiative (NCERT pp. 60-61). Fayol wants employees to think out and execute their own plans for improvement, and the picture shows the mechanism that makes this safe inside a hierarchy — a formal suggestion system through which trainee managers’ ideas, not only the managers’ ideas, reach the top and earn rewards.
Link it back to Taylor for a bonus point: rewarding suggestions is also Cooperation, Not Individualism in action, because the employee who saves the company money shares in the saving.
Key Terms and Definitions: A Quick Reference
These are the chapter’s key terms (listed on NCERT p. 64) plus the modern-production glossary from p. 54. Revise each definition in one line.
| Term | Definition | NCERT page |
|---|---|---|
| Functional foremanship | Splitting the foreman’s job into eight specialists — four who plan and four who execute — so each worker is supervised by an expert in each function. | p. 48 |
| Standardisation of work | Setting benchmarks for process, raw material, time, product, machinery, methods or working conditions, to be followed throughout production. | p. 49 |
| Simplification | Removing needless varieties, sizes and dimensions of products so labour, machines, tools, inventory and costs are saved. | p. 49 |
| Method study | Finding the one best way to do a job, from the arrival of raw material to the delivery of the finished product. | p. 50 |
| Motion study | Studying the body movements a job requires — lifting, sitting, changing positions — and eliminating the unproductive ones. | p. 50 |
| Time study | Determining the standard time a well-defined job should take, using time-measuring devices on each element of the task. | p. 51 |
| Fatigue study | Determining the amount and frequency of rest intervals a worker needs to regain stamina and continue at full capacity. | p. 51 |
| Differential piece wage system | Paying two different rates per unit — a higher rate to workers who meet or beat the standard, a lower rate to those below it. | pp. 51-52 |
| Mental revolution | The change of attitude in which workers and management shift from competition to cooperation, aiming to enlarge the surplus rather than fight over its share. | p. 52 |
| Unity of command | One employee receives orders from, and is responsible to, only one superior. | pp. 56-57 |
| Unity of direction | Every group of activities with the same objective has one head and one plan. | p. 57 |
| Scalar chain | The formal chain of authority and communication running from the top to the lowest rank. | p. 59 |
| Gang plank | A short, direct route of communication between two people at the same level, allowed in an emergency without climbing the full scalar chain. | p. 59 |
| Esprit de corps | Team spirit — the unity and harmony among employees that makes the organisation work as one. | p. 62 |
| Just-in-time manufacturing | An inventory strategy that reduces in-process stock and its costs by replenishing only when a visual signal (Kanban) shows it is needed. | p. 54 |
| Lean manufacturing | A management philosophy that removes seven wastes — overproduction, waiting, transportation, processing, motion, inventory and scrap — to improve quality and cut time and cost. | p. 54 |
| Kaizen | Japanese for “change for better”: continuous daily improvement that eliminates activities which add cost but not value. | p. 54 |
| Six sigma | A data-driven approach that cuts inefficiencies by reducing quality variations, aiming at no more than 3-4 defects per million opportunities. | p. 54 |
Common Mistakes Students Make in This Chapter
These five confusions are the most common in this chapter, and most of them come from names that look alike. Name the error before you make it.
| The mistake | The correct rule | How to check your answer |
|---|---|---|
| Treating unity of command and unity of direction as the same thing. | Unity of command protects one employee from dual subordination; unity of direction protects the whole organisation from overlapping activities (NCERT p. 58). | Ask “who is affected?” One employee means command; the entire organisation means direction. |
| Calling time study, motion study or fatigue study “principles”. | These are techniques — step-by-step tools. Principles are broad guidelines for decisions (p. 33). The four principles are science not rule of thumb, harmony not discord, cooperation not individualism, and development of each person. | Ask “is it a belief or a tool?” A study, a wage system or a foremanship structure is a tool — a technique. |
| Thinking management principles are as rigid as the laws of pure science. | Principles deal with human behaviour, so they are flexible and contingent — the manager modifies them as the situation demands (pp. 34-36). | If a rule cannot change with the situation, it is not a management principle. |
| Mixing up Taylor and Fayol in answers. | Taylor = shop floor, productivity, scientist, scientific management. Fayol = top management, overall administration, practitioner, general theory of administration (p. 63). | Ask “whose job is being fixed?” The worker’s job points to Taylor; the manager’s job points to Fayol. |
| Assuming functional foremanship means one boss per worker. | Functional foremanship gives each worker eight specialist bosses — four planning, four production — which is exactly why Taylor did not insist on unity of command the way Fayol did (pp. 48, 63). | Count the bosses in the question. Eight specialists means functional foremanship, not unity of command. |
Exercises and Case Problems: How the Chapter Tests You
The chapter closes with exercise blocks under the NCERT headings Very Short Answer Type, Short Answer Type and Long Answer Type/Essay Type on NCERT pages 66-68. Knowing which block tests what tells you where to spend your time.
- Very Short Answer Type (p. 66): one-line concept checks — why principles are flexible, the main objective of time study, the principle that extends “harmony, not discord”, causes of fatigue, and naming the principle behind a short scenario such as Wales Limited, where new recruits are given one year to prove themselves (stability of personnel).
- Short Answer Type (p. 66): brief explanations — the usefulness of unity of command, the definition of scientific management with any three principles, the consequences of violating order, four points on the significance of principles, scalar chain and gang plank, and identifying the principle violated when a manager buys from his own cousin at a higher price instead of the firm’s usual, cheaper supplier (subordination of individual interest to general interest).
- Long Answer Type / Essay Type (pp. 67-68): full explanations of Taylor’s principles and techniques, Fayol’s principles with examples, functional foremanship and mental revolution, the work-study techniques, the Taylor-Fayol differences, the contemporary relevance of both thinkers, and the two-part Bhasin Limited case problem.
The Bhasin Limited case (pp. 67-68) is the chapter’s biggest test because it combines both halves. In the first part, identify the Fayol principles the food-processing company violates, one by one from the case facts:
- Unity of command — subordinates had to work for more than one superior.
- Unity of direction — divisions once working on one product were made to work on two or more, causing overlapping and wastage.
- Discipline — workers were becoming indisciplined as changes were pushed without the required infrastructure.
- Subordination of individual interest to general interest — workers felt cheated as their interests were ignored.
- Initiative — the initiative of workers was declining.
- Esprit de corps — the spirit of teamwork that once characterised the company began to wane.
In the second part, the consultant Mukti Consultants prescribes the Taylor remedy — production planning, functional foremanship, work study, standardisation and the differential piece rate system. So the two parts together test the whole chapter: what went wrong in the organisation (Fayol) and how to fix production on the shop floor (Taylor).
Two in-text prompts connect the theory to the cases. The Test Your Understanding questions on page 40 ask you to link the innovativeness of Toyota and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw to the nature of principles, and to connect the work of BHEL and Lijjat Papad to the significance of principles.
Inside the Authority and Responsibility discussion, the chapter also plants a “Discuss in your Class” question about whether a sales manager should use authority the company has not formally approved (p. 56).
Note that textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus for what is examinable from this chapter.
One-Page Chapter Recap
This block is built from the chapter’s own closing recap on NCERT page 65. If you have two minutes left before an assessment, read this.
- Meaning: principles of management are broad, general guidelines for decision-making and behaviour in workplaces; they help managers take and implement decisions (p. 65).
- Nature: seven characteristics — universal applicability, general guidelines, formed by practice and experimentation, flexible, mainly behavioural, cause-and-effect relationships, and contingent (pp. 34-37).
- Significance: principles give managers useful insights, optimum use of resources, scientific decisions, adaptability to a changing environment, social responsibility, and a foundation for training and research (pp. 38-40).
- Taylor: four principles (science not rule of thumb, harmony not discord, cooperation not individualism, development of each person), seven techniques, and the mental revolution at the centre (pp. 42-52).
- Fayol: functions (plan, organise, command, coordinate, control), six groups of industrial activities, five qualities of a manager, and the 14 principles — see the full table in the Fayol section above (pp. 55-62).
Final line for any essay: Taylor and Fayol are complementary, not rivals — the chapter says so in its recap (p. 65), and a strong answer should say the same.
Related Chapters and Resources
This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.
This chapter sits between two chapters that use its vocabulary, so the sequence matters:
- Previous chapter: Nature and Significance of Management — where the functions of management are introduced.
- Next chapter: Business Environment — how the outside world shapes the principles you apply.
- The NCERT Class 12 Business Studies book page for the full chapter list, and the Class 12 NCERT book hub for other subjects.
For revision material, the Class 12 Business Studies notes hub follows the same chapter order, and later chapters such as Business Environment notes or Financial Management notes build directly on the principles introduced here. The wider CBSE notes library covers the remaining subjects and classes.
The official source for this chapter is NCERT’s own textbook portal: verify the current Class 12 NCERT book editions at ncert.nic.in.
Sources and Data Verification
Everything on this page is traceable to the official NCERT textbook. Four points tell you exactly what this page does and does not claim:
- All page references describe the NCERT Business Studies Part I, Class 12 textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in (chapter PDF: lebs102.pdf).
- This page covers Chapter 2 of Business Studies Part I only — not the full CBSE syllabus and not Business Studies Part II.
- The page is maintained for the current academic session using the NCERT information available to us.
- NCERT settles textbooks, editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Taylor’s principles and techniques of scientific management?
Principles are broad guidelines for taking decisions — like “science, not rule of thumb” — while techniques are step-by-step procedures used to accomplish a specific goal, such as time study or functional foremanship (NCERT p. 33). A principle tells you the direction; a technique is the tool that gets you there.
What is the difference between unity of command and unity of direction?
Unity of command means one employee receives orders from, and is responsible to, only one superior; it prevents dual subordination and affects the individual employee. Unity of direction means each group of activities with the same objective must have one head and one plan; it prevents overlapping of activities and affects the entire organisation (NCERT p. 58).
Why is Taylor called the Father of Scientific Management and Fayol the Father of General Management?
Taylor is the Father of Scientific Management because he rebuilt the shop floor through time and motion studies, the “one best way” and the differential piece wage (NCERT p. 44). Fayol is the Father of General Management because his 14 principles define the work of managers from the top down — a general theory of administration (pp. 55-56).
Scientific management fixes the worker’s job; the general theory fixes the manager’s job (p. 63).
What is mental revolution in scientific management and why is it important?
Mental revolution is the change of attitude Taylor insisted on: workers and management move from competition to cooperation, realise they need each other, and work to enlarge the surplus instead of quarrelling over how to share it (NCERT p. 52). It matters because every principle and technique fails if the two sides keep fighting.
Why does functional foremanship use eight specialists instead of one foreman?
Taylor found that no single foreman had every quality the role required — intelligence, education, tact, grit, judgment, special knowledge, manual dexterity, energy, honesty and health — so he split the job into eight specialists: four who plan (instruction card clerk, route clerk, time and cost clerk, disciplinarian) and four who execute (speed boss, gang boss, repair boss, inspector) (NCERT p. 48).
This is why Taylor did not insist on unity of command the way Fayol did (p. 63).
Reference: NCERT Class 12 Business Studies textbook, chapter 2, official edition on ncert.nic.in.
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