Management Optional Syllabus

Here is the official UPSC Management Optional syllabus for Paper I and Paper II, arranged paper by paper and unit by unit. Under each unit we give the official text first, then break it into numbered topics, so you can track your preparation and match every previous year question to its topic.

Source. UPSC Civil Services Examination 2026 notification (Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, dated 04.02.2026, revised file of 06.02.2026, pp. 122–124), upsc.gov.in. The Management syllabus has been unchanged in recent years.

Aim of the syllabus. The notification opens the Management syllabus with this statement: “The candidate should make a study of the concept of development of Management as science and art drawing upon the contributions of leading thinkers of management and apply the concepts to the real life of government and business decision-making keeping in view the changes in the strategic and operative environment.”

Scheme. Two papers of 250 marks each (total 500), 3 hours each. Each paper has two sections (A and B) of four questions each; Questions 1 and 5 are compulsory, and three more are attempted with at least one from each section. The syllabus itself is not divided into sections: questions on any unit may appear in either section. Paper I has six units (Managerial Function and Process; Organisational Behaviour and Design; Human Resource Management; Accounting for Managers; Financial Management; Marketing Management). Paper II has six units (Quantitative Techniques in Decision-making; Production and Operations Management; Management Information System; Government Business Interface; Strategic Cost Management; International Business).

Syllabus at a glance

Paper	Unit	Topics
Paper I	1. Managerial Function and Process	11
Paper I	2. Organisational Behaviour and Design	9
Paper I	3. Human Resource Management	14
Paper I	4. Accounting for Managers	12
Paper I	5. Financial Management	13
Paper I	6. Marketing Management	17
Paper II	1. Quantitative Techniques in Decision-making	10
Paper II	2. Production and Operations Management	15
Paper II	3. Management Information System	10
Paper II	4. Government Business Interface	12
Paper II	5. Strategic Cost Management	13
Paper II	6. International Business	20

Paper I

1. Managerial Function and Process

1.1 Concept and foundations of management

• Concept
• Foundations

1.2 Evolution of management thought

1.3 Managerial functions

• Planning
• Organising
• Controlling

1.4 Decision-making

1.5 Role of the manager and managerial skills

• Role of the manager
• Managerial skills

1.6 Entrepreneurship and management of innovation

• Entrepreneurship
• Management of innovation

1.7 Managing in a global environment

1.8 Flexible systems management

1.9 Social responsibility and managerial ethics

• Social responsibility
• Managerial ethics

1.10 Process and customer orientation

1.11 Managerial processes on direct and indirect value chain

2. Organisational Behaviour and Design

2.1 Conceptual model of organisation behaviour

2.2 Individual processes

• Personality, values and attitude
• Perception
• Motivation
• Learning and reinforcement
• Work stress and stress management

2.3 Dynamics of organisation behaviour

• Power and politics
• Conflict and negotiation
• Leadership process and styles
• Communication

2.4 Organisational processes

• Decision-making
• Job design

2.5 Approaches to organisational design

• Classical
• Neoclassical
• Contingency

2.6 Organisational theory and design

• Organisational culture
• Managing cultural diversity
• Learning organisation

2.7 Organisational change and development

2.8 Knowledge-based enterprise

• Systems and processes

2.9 Networked and virtual organisations

3. Human Resource Management

3.1 HR challenges and HRM functions

• HR challenges
• HRM functions
• Future challenges of HRM

3.2 Strategic management of human resources

3.3 Human resource planning

3.4 Job analysis and job evaluation

• Job analysis
• Job evaluation

3.5 Recruitment and selection

3.6 Training and development

3.7 Promotion and transfer

3.8 Performance management

3.9 Compensation management and benefits

3.10 Employee morale and productivity

3.11 Organisational climate and industrial relations

• Management of organisational climate
• Industrial relations

3.12 Human resources accounting and audit

3.13 Human resource information system

3.14 International human resource management

4. Accounting for Managers

4.1 Financial accounting

• Concept, importance and scope
• Generally accepted accounting principles

4.2 Preparation of financial statements

• Analysis of a balance sheet
• Measurement of business income

4.3 Inventory valuation and depreciation

• Inventory valuation
• Depreciation

4.4 Financial statement analysis

• Financial statement analysis
• Fund flow analysis
• Statement of cash flows

4.5 Management accounting

• Concept, need, importance and scope

4.6 Cost accounting

• Records and processes
• Cost ledger and control accounts
• Reconciliation and integration between financial and cost accounts

4.7 Overhead cost and control

4.8 Job and process costing

• Job costing
• Process costing

4.9 Budgeting

• Budget and budgetary control
• Performance budgeting
• Zero-base budgeting

4.10 Relevant costing and costing for decision-making

4.11 Standard costing and variance analysis

4.12 Marginal costing and absorption costing

5. Financial Management

5.1 Goal of the finance function

5.2 Value, return and valuation

• Concepts of value and return
• Valuation of bonds and shares

5.3 Working capital management

• Estimation and financing
• Management of cash
• Receivables
• Inventory
• Current liabilities

5.4 Cost of capital

5.5 Capital budgeting

5.6 Financial and operating leverage

5.7 Design of capital structure

• Theories
• Practices

5.8 Shareholder value creation

• Dividend policy
• Corporate financial policy and strategy
• Management of corporate distress and restructuring strategy

5.9 Capital and money markets

• Institutions and instruments
• Regulation of capital market

5.10 Leasing, hire purchase and venture capital

5.11 Risk and return

• Portfolio theory
• CAPM
• APT

5.12 Financial derivatives

• Options
• Futures
• Swaps

5.13 Recent reforms in the financial sector

6. Marketing Management

6.1 Concept, evolution and scope of marketing

6.2 Marketing strategy and marketing plan

• Marketing strategy formulation
• Components of marketing plan

6.3 Segmentation, targeting and positioning

• Segmenting and targeting the market
• Positioning and differentiating the market offering

6.4 Analysing competition

6.5 Buyer behaviour

• Analysing consumer markets
• Industrial buyer behaviour

6.6 Market research

6.7 Product strategy

6.8 Pricing strategies

6.9 Designing and managing marketing channels

6.10 Integrated marketing communications

6.11 Building customer satisfaction, value and retention

6.12 Services and non-profit marketing

6.13 Ethics in marketing and consumer protection

• Ethics in marketing
• Consumer protection

6.14 Internet marketing

6.15 Retail management

6.16 Customer relationship management

6.17 Concept of holistic marketing

Paper II

1. Quantitative Techniques in Decision-making

1.1 Descriptive statistics

• Tabular methods
• Graphical methods
• Numerical methods

1.2 Probability and probability distributions

• Introduction to probability
• Discrete probability distributions
• Continuous probability distributions

1.3 Sampling distributions and the central limit theorem

1.4 Hypothesis testing

• Differences between means
• Differences between proportions
• Inference about population variances

1.5 Chi-square and ANOVA

• Chi-square
• ANOVA

1.6 Simple correlation and regression

1.7 Time series and forecasting

1.8 Decision theory

1.9 Index numbers

1.10 Linear programming

• Problem formulation
• Simplex method
• Graphical solution
• Sensitivity analysis

2. Production and Operations Management

2.1 Fundamentals of operations management

• Fundamentals
• Organising for production

2.2 Aggregate production planning and capacity planning

• Aggregate production planning
• Capacity planning

2.3 Plant design

• Process planning
• Plant size and scale of operations

2.4 Management of facilities and line balancing

• Management of facilities
• Line balancing

2.5 Equipment replacement and maintenance

2.6 Production control

2.7 Supply chain management

• Vendor evaluation and audit

2.8 Quality management

• Quality management
• Statistical process control
• Six Sigma

2.9 Flexible and world class manufacturing

• Flexibility and agility in manufacturing systems
• World class manufacturing

2.10 Project management concepts

2.11 R&D management

2.12 Management of service operations

2.13 Materials management

• Role and importance of materials management
• Value analysis
• Make or buy decision

2.14 Inventory control and MRP

• Inventory control
• MRP

2.15 Waste management

3. Management Information System

3.1 Conceptual foundations of information systems

• Conceptual foundations
• Information theory
• Information resource management

3.2 Types of information systems

3.3 Systems development

• Overview of systems and design
• System development management life-cycle
• Designing online and distributed environments
• Implementation and control of project

3.4 Trends in information technology

3.5 Managing data resources

• Organising data
• DSS
• RDBMS

3.6 ERP and expert systems

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Expert systems

3.7 e-Business architecture and e-Governance

• e-Business architecture
• e-Governance

3.8 Information systems planning

3.9 Flexibility in information systems and user involvement

• Flexibility in information systems
• User involvement

3.10 Evaluation of information systems

4. Government Business Interface

4.1 State participation in business

4.2 Interaction between Government, business and Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India

4.3 Government policy on small scale industries

4.4 Government clearances for establishing a new enterprise

4.5 Public Distribution System and Government control over price and distribution

• Public Distribution System
• Government control over price and distribution

4.6 Consumer protection

• Consumer Protection Act (CPA)
• Role of voluntary organisations in protecting consumers’ rights

4.7 New Industrial Policy

• Liberalisation
• Deregulation
• Privatisation

4.8 Indian planning system

4.9 Development of backward areas/regions

4.10 Business, Government and protection of the environment

4.11 Corporate governance

4.12 Cyber laws

5. Strategic Cost Management

5.1 Business policy and strategic management

• Business policy as a field of study
• Nature and scope of strategic management

5.2 Strategic intent, vision, objectives and policies

5.3 Process of strategic planning and implementation

5.4 Environmental and internal analysis

• Environmental analysis
• Internal analysis
• SWOT analysis

5.5 Tools and techniques for strategic analysis

• Impact matrix
• Experience curve
• BCG matrix
• GEC model
• Industry analysis
• Value chain

5.6 Strategic profile of a firm

5.7 Competition and competitive advantage

• Framework for analysing competition
• Competitive advantage of a firm
• Generic competitive strategies

5.8 Growth strategies

• Expansion
• Integration
• Diversification

5.9 Core competence and strategic flexibility

• Core competence
• Strategic flexibility
• Reinventing strategy

5.10 Strategy and structure; Chief Executive and Board

• Strategy and structure
• Chief Executive and Board

5.11 Turnaround and strategic change

• Turnaround management
• Management of strategic change

5.12 Strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions

5.13 Strategy and corporate evolution in the Indian context

6. International Business

6.1 International business environment

• Changing composition of trade in goods and services

6.2 India’s foreign trade: policy and trends

6.3 Financing of international trade

6.4 Regional economic cooperation and FTAs

• Regional economic cooperation
• FTAs

6.5 Internationalisation of service firms

6.6 International production and operations

• International production
• Operations management in international companies

6.7 International taxation

6.8 Global competitiveness and technological developments

6.9 Global e-business

6.10 Global organisational structure and control

6.11 Multicultural management

6.12 Global business and marketing strategies

• Global business strategy
• Global marketing strategies

6.13 Export management and export-import procedures

• Export management
• Export-import procedures

6.14 Joint ventures

6.15 Foreign investment

• Foreign direct investment
• Foreign portfolio investment

6.16 Cross-border mergers and acquisitions

6.17 Foreign exchange risk exposure management

6.18 World financial markets and international banking

6.19 External debt management

6.20 Country risk analysis

Total: 156 numbered topics across 12 units.

Last updated: 30 October 2026