Management is one such subject that is not a popular choice but is considered to be one of the safest optional subjects an aspirant can choose. It is a straightforward subject that does not require a lot of deep analysis or understanding like other subjects of the humanities stream. Even though the subject does not have a lot of aspirants appearing for it, it does require you to follow a good and well-planned strategy to score well in your optional papers.
- Begin with a good start. For a good start, you are recommended to read through the IGNOU course materials or NCERTs. You can refer to both of them for a good understanding of the basic concepts and topics. After being confident about the basics you can level up your preparation by referring to the recommended higher standard books or materials. Below is a list of the recommended books that you can refer to for management optional.
- Focus on important topics from paper 1. As paper 1 is entirely theoretical and you would have a lot of topics to cover up in theory. Thus plan out the topics based on their weightage. This way you can easily cover up everything and also emphasize topics that will help you score more marks.
- Refer to case studies and application-based material for paper 2. While paper 1 is entirely theoretical, paper 2 requires a more logical approach as it consists of questions related to case studies. Make sure to have good and reliable material from where you study it.
- Refer to the topper's answer sheets. As management is a theoretical paper where you are required to answer the questions with the right approach. Thus to ensure a correct pattern of answer writing, you can refer to answer sheets of toppers or previous year aspirants who chose management as their optional.
- Have a good answer writing practice. As mentioned above you need to equip yourself with a good answer writing strategy. You can not just randomly state facts or theories. You will have to relate them and put them forward in a narrative so that you can score higher than others. Also, make sure that you do not learn theories directly from the standard books as that way your answer has a probability of being the exact same as the other aspirants who are appearing for the exam. Thus always find a unique path for yourself to follow.
Recommended books that would help you with the preparations:
The books mentioned are for the purpose of help and convenience of the students opting for the management optional.
- Fundamentals of Management by DeCenzo, Agarwal, Bhattacharya, and Robbins
- Marketing Management by Philip Kotler
- Cost and Management Accounting by MN Arora
- Organization Behaviour by Stephen Robbins
- Financial Management by Prasanna Chandra
- Financial Management by Rustagi
- Human Resource Management by K Aswathappa
- Quantitative Approaches to Management by Levin and Rubin
- Operations Management by Heizer and Render
- International Business by Hill and Jain
- Business Environment by AC Fernando
- Strategic Management by Hill and Jones
- Management Information Systems by either Laudon or O’Brien
That’s all about Strategy & Books for Management Optional for UPSC CSE. Hope this reading will worth you.
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