General Management
General management tests planning, organising, staffing, directing, and controlling in a bank context: delegation, authority limits, span of control, performance management, motivation, communication, change, and risk culture. Expect scenario questions about a manager who bypasses a limit or fails to document a decision.
Core rules and concepts
- Delegation transfers authority, not accountability. The delegator remains answerable for the outcome.
- Authority limits must be in writing and respected. Approval beyond limit is invalid unless ratified by the competent authority under policy.
- Span of control should match task complexity, staff competence, and geography. Too wide a span weakens supervision.
- Performance management uses agreed KPIs, evidence, feedback, and fair rating-not memory or favouritism.
- Change and risk culture require communication, training, and consistent consequences when rules are broken.
Worked example
An assistant manager has delegated loan authority of NPR 1,000,000. The officer approves and disburses NPR 2,500,000. The approval is ultra vires. The disbursement must stop, the case must go to the authority holding that limit, and the breach must be recorded. Disbursing first and seeking “regularisation” later converts a control failure into a credit and compliance risk. The manager who delegated remains accountable for supervision.
Traps
Treating delegation as a transfer of blame, accepting verbal approvals, letting “urgent” cases bypass limits, rating staff without evidence, and ignoring the behavioural signals that undermine risk culture.