RBI Grade B Management: Syllabus, Important Topics and Preparation

Last updated: 2026-11-06 · MockMentor

Management is the other half of Paper-III, General Finance and Management (FM), in RBI Grade B Phase 2. It is the most static part of the exam: theories of management, organisational behaviour, ethics and corporate governance. Because the syllabus changes little, it rewards thorough coverage and well-structured descriptive answers.

Syllabus units

Fundamentals of Management & Organizational Behaviour

  • Introduction to management; evolution of management thought: Scientific, Administrative, Human Relations and Systems approach; management functions and managerial roles; Nudge theory
  • Organizational behaviour: meaning and concept; Personality (factors, Big Five model); reinforcement; Perception and perceptual errors
  • Motivation: content theories (Maslow, Alderfer ERG, McClelland, Herzberg) and process theories (Adams equity theory, Vroom expectancy theory)
  • Leadership: Trait, Behavioural, Contingency, Charismatic, Transactional and Transformational; Emotional Intelligence
  • Interpersonal relationships: Transactional Analysis, Johari Window; Conflict: sources, types, management
  • Organizational Change: Kurt Lewin theory; Organizational Development: strategies for change, theories of planned change (Lewin, Action research, Positive model)

Ethics at the Workplace and Corporate Governance

  • Meaning of ethics; why ethical problems occur in business
  • Theories of ethics: Utilitarianism, rights and duties, justice and fairness, ethics of care, virtue ethics, teleological theories, egoism, relativism
  • Moral issues in business: ethics in compliance, finance, human resources, marketing, etc.
  • Ethical principles in business: organization structure and ethics, role of the Board of Directors, best practices in ethics programmes, code of ethics, code of conduct
  • Corporate Governance: factors affecting it and its mechanisms
  • Communication: steps in the process, channels, oral vs written, verbal vs non-verbal, upward/downward/lateral, barriers, role of IT

What the 2023–2026 questions show

  • In Management, ethics has been asked every year, and organisational change is growing: asked in the descriptive paper in 2025 and twice in the objective paper in 2026.

High-priority topics for 2027

Objective Descriptive
Evolution of management thought (Taylor, Fayol, systems) Communication channels (15 marks)
Ethics – theories, relativism, code Leadership – trait vs behavioural (15 marks)
Motivation – Maslow, McClelland, Vroom Ethics – code of conduct, key factors
Communication – barriers, channels Organisational change / OD – Lewin (2025 trend)
Leadership – Lewin, Fiedler, Blake-Mouton Management thought – Fayol's 14 principles (15 marks)
Personality – OCEAN (Big Five), Johari window Big Five personality (15 marks)

These priorities come from MockMentor's analysis of memory-based Phase 2 questions; RBI does not publish its papers. Use them to plan revision, but cover the full syllabus. Year-by-year counts are in the previous year question analysis.

Reading suggested by RBI (indicative)

  • Management: Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter
  • Organisational Behaviour: Stephen P. Robbins, Judge T.A. and Vohra
  • Human Resource Management: Dessler Gary and Varkkey Biju
  • Fundamentals of Human Resource Management: Decenzo and Robbins
  • Business Ethics – Concepts and Cases: Velasquez Manuel G
  • Business Ethics – An Indian Perspective: Fernando A.C.
  • Business Ethics: Crane Andrew & Matten Dirk
  • Business Ethics & Corporate Governance: Ghosh B N

Source: syllabus and reading list from the RBI advertisement for Officers in Grade B (DR), Panel Year 2026.

Management: all pages

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RBI Grade A/B 2027 Elite Course (₹3,500) – Phase 1 and Phase 2 preparation of static and current affairs content, with a special focus on Phase 2. 365 days validity.