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AQEEL RAZA
Accountant, Pakistan
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Is Management an Inexact Science?
Social sciences are considered inexact. And indeed, the knowledge and study of management is quite an inexact science for many reasons:
- There is no laboratory for testing the principles of management.
- The inclusion of actions by humans in management.
- Management is based on imaginations and thoughts.
- Management is already old but there are many changes in its nature.
- Exact sciences acquire knowledge from experiments and observation of research materials. Management deals a lot with the minds of human beings.
- Management applies knowledge according to the situation although it is using principles, methods and models to achieve a result.
- Management is also a science neither visible nor complete like other scientific knowledge. The chance of its total visibility and completion is zero because its principles create different results in different entities, in a different environment and at different times.
Overall, from the above discussion, I think management is an inexact science because it depends on thoughts and imagination, human actions and has no exact principles or formula.
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Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar
India
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Management is an Exact Science Also The outcomes are the results of the interplay of the entities of the system. If the right entities are there and with the right interactions of the entities, the desired outcome can be derived at all times and places as some principles are time tested and proven for its effectiveness over a period of time (generations together). For example the principles in the experiential system.
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Javier Elenes
Business Consultant, Mexico
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Management is a Practice, not a Science According to Peter Drucker, management is a practice, not a science.
It's about performance and its practices are based on knowledge an on responsibility.
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Graham Williams
Management Consultant, South Africa
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Management is an Inexact Practice @Javier's comment that practice is a more appropriate description of management than science, makes sense. Being exact creeps in when old style/ mechanistic/ hierarchical managers strive to measure, monitor, control, "manage" people, instead of majoring on relating, equipping, relying on people to get the required results.
Servant leadership for example is totally out of kilter with machine-like management... The two cannot fit into the same culture.
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Olaf de Hemmer
Business Consultant, France
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Management is a SYSTEMIC Science The Valeur(s) & Management network of experts concluded that corporate issues can be analyzed, understood and improved by using methods based not on Cartesian Science (based on Descartes' 4 principles, including causality and "why?") but Systemic Science (based on Le Moigne's 4 principles, including teleology and "What for?").
Even if management issues will stay subjective or even irrational, be subject to chaotic reactions, complex feedback loops… they can be studied out of practice (what science does not?), can be studied rigorously and exhaustively, leading to understanding people's individual and collective behavior, allowing to orient decisions and actions: is that not science?
Yes, management is a system-based science, like biology, environmental sciences, robotics….
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mccarthy, United Kingdom
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Science is Science I often hear/read the sloppy use of the word 'science' in business. I think people may believe something (more) if the word 'science' is used. It is very straight forward.
Science is the pursuit of knowledge through the use of scientific methods, with peer review of findings. So you can't have management science or sales science etc...
But you can have/use science to study these practices. Even in this scenario, social science is more about the study of phenomena as pure science is about facts.
I am sure accredited scientists must shudder when they hear/read the word science in the business world!
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adam djeddi
Algeria
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Social Sciences and Sciences When you want to mention science, it is enough to tell what this science is. Like: physics, mathematics... But when we add the word - science - to describe another concept, this concept is not original to science but its subject, related to it, like: social science. So management is not even a science, management is bigger and larger than science. Management is sciences's largest field.
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Jose Montoya
Professor, Venezuela
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Management is a Practice or Art, not a Science Management is a Practice or Art, not a Science. I agree with that postulate. There is no monopoly of any knowledge or at least an episteme. It only requires common sense, treat subordinates well, and know how to read and write to practice it. That is management is more an art not a science.
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krishnamohan
Teacher, India
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Whether Management is Art or Science? In my opinion, it is neither purely art or science discipline. Management is an applied science. It has many characteristics of both science and art disciplines with strong orientation towards application rather than theory.
Management is science when viewed from sound theories, established time-tested principles, well-defined processes and accepted models of managing resources of an organisation. It is also considered as an art in view of the fact that the management theories, principles and models always produce results according to the ability of the individual manager concerned and situation specific.
That is why management is neither pure science nor art. It should be regarded as the art of application of scientific principles which are regarded as universal principles of management.
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Andre-Ambrosio ABRAMCZUK
Teacher, Brazil
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Management is a Complex Activity Physics, Chemistry and Biology are exact sciences because they study processes which show the same effects as consequences of the same causes.
I do not agree that management is an inexact science. Management is not a science, but an activity. And as activity it is a complex one, which should be studied according to the principles of a theory of complexity (see, for example, R. Axelrod & M. D. Cohen, "Harnessing Complexity".
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James Antwi
HR Consultant, Ghana
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Management is an Inexact Science I agree that management is an inexact science, because management principles are true within some margin of errors and their application is typically based on assumptions.
The use of one management principle in isolation has proved ineffective in ensuring higher performance. For maximum output, there is a need to combine management principles and this can effectively be done through scientific evidence and not through trial and error.
I therefore believe that management is a practice, based on scientific evidence and not (just) common sense.
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Francis
Manager, Thailand
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Management is a Chaotic Science 💡I think management is a science as success & failure mode can be repeated with similar parameter settings. However it is under constant chaotic change, because of the ever evolving nature of ...
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LOGOFATU OCTAVIAN
Director, Romania
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Is Management an Inexact Science? Basically, management is an art. Definitions in accordance with "management is the science of making things run well" I consider being wrong.
For me, a better definition is: "management is the art to...
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habib shamsi
Manager, Iran
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Management is Real Science High quality management results from applying scientific creations. It is essential a manager knows about and uses sciences. It is impossible someone becomes successful in managing without understandi...
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Graham Williams
Management Consultant, South Africa
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Is Management an Inexact Science? @Andre-Ambrosio ABRAMCZUK makes a good point. In examining management in practice for the purpose of advancing knowledge, the rigours of off-work ‘scientific’ theory may be combined with practical wor...
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Mohamed Ibrahim Hassan
Somalia
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Management Really is not Sceince Really Management is not a science subject because it has no formula and experiments as we are seeing in science subjects.
And also management has its thoughts developed by some persons without exper...
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Gabi Levin
Israel
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Management is a Discipline Involving Science + Art What is science?
Common wisdom tells that science is capable of defining rules, that - if followed -will always have the same result. Based on that, management isn't science. Take one company at time...
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Olaf de Hemmer
Business Consultant, France
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Management Science @Olaf de Hemmer: well, I agree with some of the reactions: management itself is not a science, but management science is science... Based on systemic paradigm instead of cartesian paradigm....
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Andre-Ambrosio ABRAMCZUK
Teacher, Brazil
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Management is not a Science @Habib shamsi: I insist and repeat: Management is not science, but activity that can be studied scientifically. Management in practice is driven by assumptions of social and therefore cultural nature....
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Jose Luis Roces
Professor, Argentina
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Management Science In my opinion it is a systemic social knowledge field, which includes practices and behaviors in all activities.
The effectiveness of management decisions depends on the coherence between the situati...
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Riungu Festus Kinyua
Lecturer, Kenya
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Management is Both an Art and a Science Management is both an art and science:
- When you manage processes and systems in the workplace, a lot of science is required as argued by Fayol and the like.
- But when you deal with people, then t...
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Don Berry, United States
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The Most Effective Managers are Artists ... not Scientists @Graham Williams: Exactly! Those who view management as a science focus on processes and tweaking formulas when the outcomes don't match the expectation. As a result, a management scientist loses sig...
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Meshesha
Financial Consultant, Ethiopia
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No Universal Meaning of Management All ideas raised above seem sound, but how can we reach on similar conclusion. We have been learning Management is a discipline in most business courses, but no one has an exclusive formula that appli...
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Riungu Festus Kinyua
Lecturer, Kenya
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Manager have to be Artistic Strategy is an art, dealing with people is an artistic process, and systems are normally fixed and routine which allows a scientific approach. Overall, the dynamism in human capital requires the manag...
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Thob
Accountant
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Management is Bigger than Science To me management is not a science but rather something bigger than science. Scientists can agree with me that even science needs to be managed. So management is not science but it can be used to make ...
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Tim Dibble
Project Manager, United States
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Management is not a Science A science is based on the scientific principle. Establish a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, analyze the data, adjust the hypothesis until you have a reliable, repeatable answer.
Management's attempt...
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Gabi Levin
Israel
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Management is an Illusive Concept In continuation to @my previous post - where I suggested it is a discipline based on science and art. It reminds me of my Ph.D. thesis many years ago in material science. There was huge debate on a me...
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MUCHERWA NGONI
Student (University), Zimbabwe
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Management Can Be an Exact Science! 70% of management is a science. 30% is art. Management is a science because you can falsify your assumptions by using numbers. In other words you can prove or disapprove your hypothesis. That is why w...
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Vincent Miholic
Manager, United States
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Practice Ignores Rigorous, Valid Research In this stream, @Javier Elenes quotes Drucker, "Management is Practice." What's missing? Not inexact science. More abundantly clear? The lack of wherewithal or disposition to move beyond self to pract...
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mccarthy, United Kingdom
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Studying Management is Social Science; Managing is Not. Exactly... Not sure why other people find this so difficult to grasp. Or try and fudge it! Studying management could and I say could be viewed as branch of social sciences. But the 'doing' of manageme...
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eduardo oliva
Professor, Mexico
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Apply Management Combining Arts and Sciences Excellent managers usually apply a successful combination of arts and sciences, both in a rational and intuitive manner. To what extent management is or is not a science does not distract me from its ...
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mccarthy, United Kingdom
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Science is Science Wrong and right. Management doesn't apply the scientific model to their work. They think they may do, but they don't. Even when they experiment which is great.
For sure management work may be guided ...
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Delfor Ibarra
Director, Argentina
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Management as Inexact Art Each particular science has revealed its inaccuracy and after that each individual has attempted to demonstrating this; nevertheless even if it is considered improveable, it still has maintained its s...
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WALTER CASQUINO
Professor, Peru
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The Best Managers / Parents The head of a family deals with his family problems with basic management features. Although he gives his children the same goodies, care, hard hand when needed, and resources, and they grow up in the...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Management and “Science” - Discuss Words have definitions. People interpret or re-apply these giving new meanings and referents. The variants may become the norm and make original definitions unacceptable.
So, arguments cannot be reso...
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eduardo oliva
Professor, Mexico
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Management is not a Science Management it is not a science for none of its phenomenology can be replicable and, thus, approachable on an accurate manner. Nonetheless, some parts of the managerial process can be treated in a scie...
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Magassouba
Manager, Guinea
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Why Management is a Science In my opinion it's a Science because it constitutes an organized knowledge from different practices in different fields of management. Managers are able to work better by using the organized knowledge...
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Andre-Ambrosio ABRAMCZUK
Teacher, Brazil
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Is Management an Inexact Science? Science is an "offline" activity. Some activities are "offline", applying scientific principles, for example, production planning in a factory. Other activities are "online", applying scientific princ...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Science or Knowledge @Magassouba: Magassouba / Editor "Organised knowledge is science" Hmm; literally yes. However I believe this referent does not make a satisfactory definition, in terms of this discussion.
My library ...
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Is Management a Science @Maurice Hogarth: I agree, a library is not a science, nor is 12manage. They merely support science. (By the way, to be fair, 💡12manage is supporting science in several additional ways beyond ...
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Gary Wong
Consultant, Canada
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Management is Practicing System Laws @Jaap de Jonge: I suggest we take the Art v Science argument to a lower level of granularity: to the Systems level. There are 3 systems in the real world - Order, Chaos, Complex.
In the CHAOTIC S...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Science Says Management Isn’t a Science @Jaap de Jonge: A need to clarify: Can a library of novels be an aid to “science”?
Science comes from the Latin word "scientia", meaning "knowledge". But a person's knowledge is not science.
Diction...
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Management is Both a Science and Practice @Maurice Hogarth: In my opinion, the models and methods that are described on 12manage certainly aim to help practitioners and scientists achieve more predictable results than they could achieve by re...
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Mrs.Sayran Ghafuri,Kittani
Coach, Iraq
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Management Science Management can be viewed as the science of systems formation: a business system, a state system, a health system, an education system, an industry system, an agricultural system, an army system... etc...
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Mrs.Sayran Ghafuri,Kittani
Coach, Iraq
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'Management is Both a Science and Practice' @Jaap de Jonge: In fact, all sciences were practices before writing books in them and conducting studies and research about them and including them within the sciences taught in universities, and mana...
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Mrs.Sayran Ghafuri,Kittani
Coach, Iraq
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The Accuracy of All Sciences is Relative, not Absolute If you mean absolute accuracy, then even mathematics is not characterized by absolute accuracy....
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Management; to be or not to be a Science @Jaap de Jonge: Another thought for consideration in this pot pourri of thoughts.
There is no one right answer to the process of managing; different styles with different teams and individuals can be...
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Mrs.Sayran Ghafuri,Kittani
Coach, Iraq
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Science is Managed Through Planning, Organizing, Leading, Coordinating, and Controlling @Maurice Hogarth: Is management a science like other sciences?! How do you learn science through the educational institutions established by the management, study the scientific curricula that are man...
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