ABSTRACT
The ultimate test of an individual’s management ability is performance on the job. However, this test has done less to influence the form of management education than the examinations which are set at the end of a training course, either in an individual company or in the many technical colleges operating the joint British Institute of Management—Ministry of Education Management Studies Scheme. Although there has been a trend towards more practical problems in management examinations, the abstract question, deriving as it does from the great British academic tradition, holds sway. Good management practice rests primarily upon accumulated experience, sound judgment and inherent ability, and cannot be secured by the application of a body of well thought out principles and well designed methods.
