Precis Writing Exercise No. 73/80
Checking Fee For This Exercise: $1
Total Marks: 100
Time Allowed: 3:00 Hours
Q.1. Write a precis of the following passage and suggest a suitable title. (20)
Year 1981
An important part of management is the making of rules. As a means of regulating the functioning of an organization so that most routine matters are resolved without referring each issue to the manager they are an essential contribution to efficiency. The mere presence of carefully considered rules has the double-edged advantage of enabling workers to know how far they can go, what is expected of them and what channels of action to adopt on the one side, and on the other, of preventing the management from behaving in a capricious manner. The body of rules fixed by the company for itself acts as its constitution, which is binding both on employees and employers, however, it must be remembered that rules are made for people, not people for rules. If conditions and needs change rules ought to change with them. Nothing is sadder than the mindless application of rules which are outdated and irrelevant. An organization suffers from mediocrity if it is too rule-bound. People working in will do the minimum possible. It is called "working to rule" or just doing enough to ensure that rules are not broken. But this really represents the lowest level of the employer/employee relationship and an organization afflicted by this is in an unhappy condition indeed. Another important point in rule-making is to ensure that they are rules which can be followed. Some rules are so absurd that although everyone pays lip-service to them, no one really bothers to follow them. Often the management knows this but can do thing about it. The danger of this is, if a level of disrespect for one rule is created this might lead to an attitude of disrespect for all rules. One should take it for granted that nobody likes rules, nobody wants to be restricted by them. Rules which cannot be followed are not only pointless, they are actually damaging the structure of the organization.
An important part of management is the making of rules. As a means of regulating the functioning of an organization so that most routine matters are resolved without referring each issue to the manager they are an essential contribution to efficiency. The mere presence of carefully considered rules has the double-edged advantage of enabling workers to know how far they can go, what is expected of them and what channels of action to adopt on the one side, and on the other, of preventing the management from behaving in a capricious manner. The body of rules fixed by the company for itself acts as its constitution, which is binding both on employees and employers, however, it must be remembered that rules are made for people, not people for rules. If conditions and needs change rules ought to change with them. Nothing is sadder than the mindless application of rules which are outdated and irrelevant. An organization suffers from mediocrity if it is too rule-bound. People working in will do the minimum possible. It is called "working to rule" or just doing enough to ensure that rules are not broken. But this really represents the lowest level of the employer/employee relationship and an organization afflicted by this is in an unhappy condition indeed. Another important point in rule-making is to ensure that they are rules which can be followed. Some rules are so absurd that although everyone pays lip-service to them, no one really bothers to follow them. Often the management knows this but can do thing about it. The danger of this is, if a level of disrespect for one rule is created this might lead to an attitude of disrespect for all rules. One should take it for granted that nobody likes rules, nobody wants to be restricted by them. Rules which cannot be followed are not only pointless, they are actually damaging the structure of the organization.
Q.2. Write a precis of the following passage in about 100 words and suggest a title. (20)
Year 1982
Objectives pursued by, organisations should be directed to the satisfaction of demands resulting from the wants of mankind. Therefore, the determination of appropriate objectives for organised activity must be preceded by an effort to determine precisely what their wants are. Industrial organisations conduct market studies to learn what consumers goods should be produced. City Commissions make surveys to ascertain what civic projects would be of most benefit. Highway Commissions conduct traffic counts to learn what constructive programmes should be undertaken. Organisations come into being as a means for creating and exchanging utility. Their success is dependent upon the appropriateness of the series of acts contributed to the system. The majority of these acts is purposeful, that is, they are directed to the accomplishment of some objective. These acts are physical in nature and find purposeful employment in the alteration of the physical environment. As a result utility is created, which through the process of distribution, makes it possible for the cooperative system to endure. Before the Industrial Revolution most cooperative activity was accomplished in small owner-managed enterprises. usually with a single decision maker and simple organisational objectives. Increased technology and the growth of industrial organisations made necessary the establishment of a hierarchy of objectives. This, in turn, required a division of the management, function until today a hierarchy of decision maker exists in most organisations. The effective pursuit of appropriate objectives contributes directly the organisational efficiency. As used here, efficiency is a measure of the want satisfying power of the cooperative system as a whole. Thus efficiency is the summation of utilities received from the organisation divided by the utilities given to the organisation, as subjectively evaluated by each contributor. The function of the management process is the delineation of organisational objectives and the coordination of activity towards the accomplishment of these objectives. The system of coordinated activities must be maintained so that each contributor, including the manager, gains more than he contributes.
Objectives pursued by, organisations should be directed to the satisfaction of demands resulting from the wants of mankind. Therefore, the determination of appropriate objectives for organised activity must be preceded by an effort to determine precisely what their wants are. Industrial organisations conduct market studies to learn what consumers goods should be produced. City Commissions make surveys to ascertain what civic projects would be of most benefit. Highway Commissions conduct traffic counts to learn what constructive programmes should be undertaken. Organisations come into being as a means for creating and exchanging utility. Their success is dependent upon the appropriateness of the series of acts contributed to the system. The majority of these acts is purposeful, that is, they are directed to the accomplishment of some objective. These acts are physical in nature and find purposeful employment in the alteration of the physical environment. As a result utility is created, which through the process of distribution, makes it possible for the cooperative system to endure. Before the Industrial Revolution most cooperative activity was accomplished in small owner-managed enterprises. usually with a single decision maker and simple organisational objectives. Increased technology and the growth of industrial organisations made necessary the establishment of a hierarchy of objectives. This, in turn, required a division of the management, function until today a hierarchy of decision maker exists in most organisations. The effective pursuit of appropriate objectives contributes directly the organisational efficiency. As used here, efficiency is a measure of the want satisfying power of the cooperative system as a whole. Thus efficiency is the summation of utilities received from the organisation divided by the utilities given to the organisation, as subjectively evaluated by each contributor. The function of the management process is the delineation of organisational objectives and the coordination of activity towards the accomplishment of these objectives. The system of coordinated activities must be maintained so that each contributor, including the manager, gains more than he contributes.
Q.3. Write a precis of the following passage and suggest a suitable title. (20)
Year 1983
Rural development lies at the heart of any meaningful development strategy. This is the only mechanism to carry the message to the majority of the people and to obtain their involvement in measures designed to improve productivity levels. Rural population exceeds 70 percent of the total population of the country, despite a rapid rate of urbanization. Average rural income is 34 percent less than per capita urban income. A large part of under employment is still concealed in various rural activities particularly in the less developed parts of the country. For centuries, the true magnitude of poverty has been concealed from view by pushing a large part of it to the rural areas. This set in motion a self-perpetuating mechanism. The more enterprising and talented in the rural society migrated to the cities in search of dreams which were seldom realized. Such migrants added to urban squalor. The relatively more prosperous in the rural society opted for urban residence for different reasons. The rural society itself has in this way systematically been denuded of its more enterprising elements, as rural areas developed the character of a huge and sprawling slum. Development in the past has touched rural scene mainly via agricultural development programmes. These are essential and would have to be intensified. Much more important is a large scale expansion of physical and social infrastructure on the village scene. These included rural roads, rural water supply and village electrification as a part of the change in the physical environment and primary education and primary health care as the agents of social change. The task is to provide modern amenities as an aid for bringing into motion the internal dynamics of the rural society on a path leading to increase in productivity and self-help, changing the overall surrounding, while preserving coherence, integrated structure and the rich cultural heritage of the rural society.
Rural development lies at the heart of any meaningful development strategy. This is the only mechanism to carry the message to the majority of the people and to obtain their involvement in measures designed to improve productivity levels. Rural population exceeds 70 percent of the total population of the country, despite a rapid rate of urbanization. Average rural income is 34 percent less than per capita urban income. A large part of under employment is still concealed in various rural activities particularly in the less developed parts of the country. For centuries, the true magnitude of poverty has been concealed from view by pushing a large part of it to the rural areas. This set in motion a self-perpetuating mechanism. The more enterprising and talented in the rural society migrated to the cities in search of dreams which were seldom realized. Such migrants added to urban squalor. The relatively more prosperous in the rural society opted for urban residence for different reasons. The rural society itself has in this way systematically been denuded of its more enterprising elements, as rural areas developed the character of a huge and sprawling slum. Development in the past has touched rural scene mainly via agricultural development programmes. These are essential and would have to be intensified. Much more important is a large scale expansion of physical and social infrastructure on the village scene. These included rural roads, rural water supply and village electrification as a part of the change in the physical environment and primary education and primary health care as the agents of social change. The task is to provide modern amenities as an aid for bringing into motion the internal dynamics of the rural society on a path leading to increase in productivity and self-help, changing the overall surrounding, while preserving coherence, integrated structure and the rich cultural heritage of the rural society.
Q.4. Write a precis of the following passage and suggest a suitable title. (20)
Year 1984
It is no doubt true that we cannot go through life without sorrow. There can be no sunshine without shade. We must not complain that roses have thorns, but rather be grateful that thorns bear flowers. Our existence here is so complex that we must expect much sorrow and much suffering. Many people distress and torment themselves about the mystery of existence. But although a good man may at times be angry with the world, it is certain that no man was ever discontented with the world who did his duty in it. The world is a looking-glass, if you smile, it smiles, if you frown, it frowns back. If you look at it through a red glass, all seems red and rosy: if through a blue, all blue, if through a smoked one, all dull and dingy. Always try then to look at the bright side of things, almost everything in the world has a bright side. There are some persons whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose every presence seems like a ray of sunshine and brightens a whole room. Greet everybody with a bright smile, kind words and a pleasant welcome. It is not enough to love those who are near and dear to us. We must show that we do so. While, however, we should be grateful, and enjoy to the full the innumerable blessings of life, we cannot expect to have no sorrows or anxieties. Life has been described as a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel. It is indeed a tragedy at times and a comedy very often, but as a rule, it is what we choose to make it. No evil, said Socrates, can happen to a good man, either in Life or Death.
It is no doubt true that we cannot go through life without sorrow. There can be no sunshine without shade. We must not complain that roses have thorns, but rather be grateful that thorns bear flowers. Our existence here is so complex that we must expect much sorrow and much suffering. Many people distress and torment themselves about the mystery of existence. But although a good man may at times be angry with the world, it is certain that no man was ever discontented with the world who did his duty in it. The world is a looking-glass, if you smile, it smiles, if you frown, it frowns back. If you look at it through a red glass, all seems red and rosy: if through a blue, all blue, if through a smoked one, all dull and dingy. Always try then to look at the bright side of things, almost everything in the world has a bright side. There are some persons whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose every presence seems like a ray of sunshine and brightens a whole room. Greet everybody with a bright smile, kind words and a pleasant welcome. It is not enough to love those who are near and dear to us. We must show that we do so. While, however, we should be grateful, and enjoy to the full the innumerable blessings of life, we cannot expect to have no sorrows or anxieties. Life has been described as a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel. It is indeed a tragedy at times and a comedy very often, but as a rule, it is what we choose to make it. No evil, said Socrates, can happen to a good man, either in Life or Death.
Q.5. Make a precis of the following passage and suggest a suitable title. (20)
Year 1985
Climate influences labour not only by enervating the labourer or by invigorating him, but also by the effect it produces on the regularity of his habits. Thus we find that no people living in a very northern latitude have ever possessed that steady and unflinching industry for which the inhabitants of temperate regions are remarkable. In the more northern countries the severity of the weather, and, at some seasons, the deficiency of light, render it impossible for the people to continue their usual out-of-door employments. The result is that the working classes, being compelled to cease from their ordinary pursuits are rendered move prone to desultory habits, the chain of their industry is, as it were, broken, and they lose that impetus which long-continued and uninterrupted practice never fails to give. Hence there arises a national character more fitful and capricious than that possessed by a people whose climate permits the regular exercise of their ordinary industry. Indeed so powerful is this principle that we perceive its operations even under the most opposite circumstances. It would be difficult to conceive a greater difference in government, laws, religion, and manners, than that which distinguishes Sweden and Norway, on the one hand, from Spain and Portugal on the other. But these four countries have one great point in common. In all of them continued agricultural industry is impracticable. In the two Southern countries labour is interrupted by the dryness of the weather and by the consequent state of the soil. In the northern countries the same effect is produced by the severity of the winter and the shortness of the days. The consequence is that these four nations, though so different in other respects, are all remarkable for a certain instability and fickleness of character.
Climate influences labour not only by enervating the labourer or by invigorating him, but also by the effect it produces on the regularity of his habits. Thus we find that no people living in a very northern latitude have ever possessed that steady and unflinching industry for which the inhabitants of temperate regions are remarkable. In the more northern countries the severity of the weather, and, at some seasons, the deficiency of light, render it impossible for the people to continue their usual out-of-door employments. The result is that the working classes, being compelled to cease from their ordinary pursuits are rendered move prone to desultory habits, the chain of their industry is, as it were, broken, and they lose that impetus which long-continued and uninterrupted practice never fails to give. Hence there arises a national character more fitful and capricious than that possessed by a people whose climate permits the regular exercise of their ordinary industry. Indeed so powerful is this principle that we perceive its operations even under the most opposite circumstances. It would be difficult to conceive a greater difference in government, laws, religion, and manners, than that which distinguishes Sweden and Norway, on the one hand, from Spain and Portugal on the other. But these four countries have one great point in common. In all of them continued agricultural industry is impracticable. In the two Southern countries labour is interrupted by the dryness of the weather and by the consequent state of the soil. In the northern countries the same effect is produced by the severity of the winter and the shortness of the days. The consequence is that these four nations, though so different in other respects, are all remarkable for a certain instability and fickleness of character.
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