Is management is a science or an art?
The controversy with regard to the nature of management, as to whether it is an art or a science, is very old. This controversy, however, is not very much in the air now though the controversy is yet to be settled.
It is to be noted that the learning process in art differs from that of science. Learning of art involves its continuous practice while learning of science basically involves the assimilation of principles.
Much of the controversy of management being as art or science is on account of the fact that the earlier captains of industry and managers have used intuition, hunches, commonsense, and experience in managing organizations. They were not trained professional managers, although they were very brilliant and had developed commonsense through which they managed well. However, commonsense and science differ considerably in solving the problems.
Management as an Art1. Practical Knowledge
2. Personalized Application of Knowledge
3. Improvement through Continuous Practice
4. Situational Application
5. Emphasis on Creativity
Management as a Science
1. Systematized Body of Knowledge
2. Principles Based on Experimentation
3. Verifiable Principles
4. Universal Application
Management: Both Art and Science
Comparison between art and science as used in management
| Art | Science |
|---|---|
| Advances by practice | Advances by knowledge |
| Feels | Proves |
| Guesses | Predicts |
| Describes | Defines |
| Opines | Measures |
| Expresses | Impresses |
Management – Art or Science
Art is defined as the use of skills to bring a desired result. Skills refer to one’s proficiency to do a specific work. Thus, art has the following features:
Knowledge refers to possession of facts and techniques of a particular field. Knowledge can be acquired through study and/or practical experience. Generally, in art, more emphasis is given on acquiring knowledge through practical experience. In management, knowledge is acquired both through study and experience. Thus, management is an art.
In art, there is personalized application of knowledge to achieve the desired results. This is possible because the same set of results can be achieved through a number of alternative ways. This is done in management too; each manager has his own way of achieving results. Thus, management is an art.
In art, improvement is made through continuous practice. This practice eliminates those activities which are not relevant for achieving the desired results and improving those activities that are relevant. Through this way, the person engaged in any art tends to move towards perfection. This is exactly done in management.
Art has situational application. This implies that an art which is appreciated in one situation may not be appreciated in another situation. This is true for management too. Thus, a particular management practice which is quite effective in an organization may not be effective in another organization because of change in situational context.
Further, in the same organization, management practices may change over the period of time because of change in contextual variables.
Art puts emphasis on creativity through which new things or ways of working are created. This is done in management too; managers create new products, new ways of working, new means of financing, new ways of marketing and so on.
The above discussion shows that management is an art.
Science is a body of systematized knowledge generated through logical consistency, critical evaluation and experimental study. Thus, science has the following features:
Science is a systematized body of knowledge. Its principles are based on cause-effect relationship, that is, a particular factor has been caused by what factor can be explained in a definite way.
For example, if you throw a ball up, after going upward the ball will ultimately come back on the ground because of earth’s gravitational force. In management, there is lack of such a cause-effect relationship; cause-effect relationship is defined in flexible way, not in definite way. Thus, management is not a true science.
In science, principles are evolved on the basis of experiments conducted in laboratories. Such principles are tested again and again for final approval. In management, this is not done in all cases; in many cases, management principles are based on personal observations and experiences.
Though experiments are conducted under controlled conditions, their findings are not tested like science. From this point of view, management is not a true science.
Scientific principles can be verified by any one. Such verification will give the same results again and again. Management principles are not verifiable in many cases. In fact, in many cases, it is difficult to appreciate the bases on which management principles have been evolved. Thus, management is not a true science.
Principles of science have universal application, that is, they remain true irrespective of the conditions in which these are applied. As against this, management principles are situation bound. It implies that a management principle which works well in one country may not work equally well in another country. This is because of situational differences between the two countries.
Further, a management principle which works effectively in one organization may not work effectively in another organization of the same country. Thus, management cannot be called ‘true science’.
The above discussion shows that management is not a true science. Therefore, management is called an ‘inexact science‘ or ‘pseudo-science‘.
Thus, to be a successful manager, a person requires the knowledge of management principles and also the skills of how the knowledge can be utilized. Absence of either will result in inefficiency.
A comparison between art and science is presented in the below table which suggests that a manager requires both aspects of management to be successful.
It can be seen that management uses both scientific knowledge and art in managing an organization. As the science of management increases so should the art of management. A balance between the two is needed. Neither should be over-weighed or slighted.
Some feel that further gains in science of management will restrict art more and more. This is true to a limited extent only. The fact remains that to be useful, knowledge of science must be applied, that is, art must be present. Therefore, the old saying that ‘knowledge is power‘ is partially true.
The correct saying should be ‘applied knowledge is power‘. People having abundant knowledge may have little use if they do not know how to use knowledge. This is particularly true for management which is a situational phenomenon.
or,
Management as an art or science or a combination of both, let’s see the words ‘SCIENCE’ and ‘ART’. A science can be referred to as knowledge about the structure and behavior of the natural and physical world, based on facts that you can prove. This can be done through experiments. Hence, predictions can be made from such experiments. ART on the other hand can be seen as a skillful way of doing things.
Management as an art deals with the application of skills in the process of getting things done through people and available resources. On the other hand, as a science it deals with making decisions and implementing them based on the gathering of past and present data, analysing them and the correlation of such data in order to predict future occurrence.
To buttress my point, in the modern world, the budgets of various countries and organizations are made through the use of existing data which is one of the duties attached to management. Hence, in budgeting, prediction are made from past and present information which can be attributed to science.
Also, all over the world, we have laboratories that are specially designed to study the behavior, attitudes and the way of life of people in order to suggest the best ways of leading, controlling and relating with them in order to achieve desired goals from them.
Not only that, future productions and sales are also forecasted which are all related to science. Certain decisions are made through the use of statistical tools like the chi-square, regression equations, partial correlation, Mann-Whitney test and so on which are also known all over the world as scientific tools.
Management as an Art:
Art refers to the way of doing specific things; it indicates how an object can be achieved. In the words of George R. Terry, “Art is bringing about of a desired result through the application of skill.” Art is, thus, skilful application of knowledge which entirely depends on the inherent capacity of a person which comes from within a person and is learned from practice and experience. In this sense, management is certainly an art as a manager uses his skill, knowledge and experience in solving various problems, both complicated and non-complicated that arise in the working of his enterprise successful. In the words of Ernest Dale, “Management is considered as an art rather than science mainly because managerial skill is a personnel possession and is intuitive.”
Management as a Science:
Science may be described as a systematized body of knowledge based on proper findings and exact principles and is capable of verification. It is a reservoir of fundamental truths and its findings apply safely in all the situations. In this sense, management is a science as it has also developed some systematized knowledge. Like other sciences, management has also developed certain principles, laws, generalization, which are universal in nature and are applicable wherever the efforts of the people are to be coordinated. But management is not as exact science as other physical sciences like physic, chemistry, biology, astronomy etc. The main reason for the inexactness of science of management is that it deals with the people and it is very difficult to predict their behavior accurately. In this way, management falls in the area of ‘social sciences’. Thus, it is a social science.
Conclusion- Management is an Art and Science Both
From the above study, we conclude that management is an art and science both. According to American Society of Mechanical Engineers. “Management is the art and science of preparing, organizing and directing human efforts to control the forces and utilize the material of nature for the benefit of men.
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