A monitoring system and method are described which simplify the management of complex, multi-tiered networks such as those used in large enterprises. A cluster of application servers are communicatively coupled on a network to serve applications over the network to a plurality of clients. Each of the application servers includes a plurality of server nodes and at least one dispatcher node. Each of the server nodes and dispatchers is assigned its own dedicated management bean ("MBean") server and each of the MBean servers are associated with a plurality of MBeans for monitoring specified system resources. In addition, one embodiment of the invention includes cluster integration logic which collects and compiles resource data from each of the individual MBeans and provides the compiled data in a predefined organizational structure to a management interface.