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ASSIGNMENT-1 NAME-KUMAR NIRAJ SEC.-D,ROLL NO.

-232 ECE

What is management? Is it a science or an art? To different people the answer could be both, either or neither. Some people think management is a science, because there exist some scientific principles and rules (such as Taylor's scientific management theories and Weber's administration of social and economic organization) that can be applied for improving the productivity and/or efficiency of organizations, profit or nonprofit, private or public . Another important school of taking management as a science comes from the area of systems science. Ever since the 1940s, Churchman and Ackoff, based on Singer's experimentalist philosophy, have tried to establish an 'Institute of Experimental Method' for dealing with societal issues in areas such as city planning and business management .They have devoted their entire academic lives to design 'a science of management that lives up to the standards of good science', and contributed a lot to the Operations Research Society of America (Philip M. Morse, the father of operations research in the U.S., served as its founding president in 1952, and Ackoff served as its fifth president in 1956) and The Institute of Management Science (William W. Cooper served as its founding president, and Churchman served as its ninth president in 1962 and as the first editor-in-chief of the journal Management Science in 1955). (2) Classical scientific management methods, Churchman's social systems design and Ackoff's social systems science can be seen as typical representatives of the scientific school, although Ackoff believes that mess management is an art and science (3) (Churchman, 1955, 1971, 1979, 1994; Ackoff, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1999a, 1999b). A considerable group of people view management as an art. The reasons are not only because no management theory or approach can guarantee successful practical action of a social or economic organization in practice, but also because these people have advocated or overemphasized personal intuition and other personal irrational factors such as emotion and hunches in decision-

making and management. In reality, management heroes, like Microsoft's William Gates and GE's Jack Welch and their top-down managerial strategy have enhanced this idea (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Both views of management, as a science or as an art, can provide ample evidence to support their viewpoints, and they all seem correct and reasonable from their perspective. However, some people also think management is neither a science nor an art, but a political game. The criterion is in the mind of speakers. Now an increasing number of people believe that management is both a science and an art, but the reasons might be different from person to person. Herein, I provide an alternative brief explanation of management as both a science and an art based on our past research (see Figure 1) (Gao et al., 2002, 2003, 2008; Gao and Li, 2003; Jackson and Gao, 2004; Gao, 2003, 2006). In the following discussion, I, first, point out the difference between science and art. Then, following Jackson's classification of different systems approaches such as modernism and postmodernism, I connect modernism with objectivism and collective subjectivism, and postmodernism with individual subjectivism. Objectivism relates to rationality, and subjectivism relates to sense and observation. Through the discussion of object and subject, and mind and body, I compare various ways of perceiving reality to capture their difference in nature. With the different ways of perceiving different objects in reality as belonging to the natural/physical world, man-made systems or human society, we get a perceived reality that is viewed as science, applied science or technology or social science. Sciences, applied sciences or technologies and social sciences are discussed based on the different schools of western philosophy. The different characteristics of natural scientists, applied scientists, and social scientists are also briefly introduced. Finally, by introducing knowledge management of modern high-tech corporations, I conclude that the whole picture of Figure I makes sense to managers, consultants, academics and practitioners, because knowledge system of a modern high-tech corporation relates to natural world, man-made systems and human society. Objects under consideration belonging to different parts of reality require, as Jackson's Creative Holism promoted, different approaches to deal with. The purpose of this article is to give a brief explanation of why management is both a science and an art, and to inspire further debate and discussion on the essence of management among academics and practitioners. Practicing managers who believe in management as an art are unlikely to believe that scientific principles and theories will be able to implemented in actual managerial situations. Instead, these managers are likely to rely on the social and political environment surrounding the managerial issue, using their own knowledge of a situation, rather than generic rules, to determine a course of action. For example, as a contrast to the example given previously, a manager who has a problem with an employee's poor work performance is likely to rely on his or her own experiences and judgment when addressing this issue. Rather than having a standard response to such a problem, this manager is likely to consider a broad range of social and political factors, and is likely to take different actions depending on the context of the problem. Henry Mintzberg is probably the most well-known and prominent advocate of the school of thought that management is an art. Mintzberg is an academic researcher whose work capturing the actual daily tasks of real managers was ground breaking research for its time. Mintzberg, through his observation of actual managers in their daily work, determined that managers did not sit at their desks, thinking, evaluating, and deciding all day long, working for long, uninterrupted time periods. Rather, Mintzberg determined that mangers engaged in very fragmented work, with constant interruptions and rare opportunities to quietly consider managerial issues. Thus, Mintzberg revolutionized thinking about managers at the time that his work was published, challenging the prior notion that managers behaved rationally and methodically. This was in line with the perspective of management as an art, because it indicated that managers did not

necessarily have routine behaviors throughout their days, but instead used their own social and political skills to solve problems that arose throughout the course of work. Another scholar that promoted the notion of management as an art was David E. Lilienthal, who in 1967 had his series of lectures titled Management: A Humanist Art published. In this set of published lectures, Lilienthal argues that management requires more than a mastery of techniques and skills; instead, it also requires that managers understand individuals and their motivations and help them achieve their goals. Lilienthal believed that combining management and leadership into practice, by not only getting work done but understanding the meaning behind the work, as effective managerial behavior. Thus, he promoted the idea of the manager as a motivator and facilitator of others. This manager as an artist was likely to respond differently to each employee and situation, rather than use a prescribed set of responses dictated by set of known guidelines. Another proponent of the management as art school of thought is Peter Drucker, famed management scholar who is best known for developing ideas related to total quality management. Drucker terms management "a liberal art," claiming that it is such because it deals with the fundamentals of knowledge, wisdom, and leadership, but because it is also concerned with practice and application. Drucker argues that the discipline (i.e., the science) of management attempts to create a paradigm for managers, in which facts are established, and exceptions to these facts are ignored as anomalies. He is critical of the assumptions that make up the management paradigm, because these assumptions change over time as society and the business environment change. Thus, management is more of an art, because scientific "facts" do not remain stable over time.

INCREASED STATISTICAL SOPHISTICATION. As computer technology continues to improve, the ability of management researchers to conduct sophisticated statistical analyses has also been enhanced. Powerful statistical computing packages are now readily available for desktop computers, allowing for high-speed analysis of complex statistical models. Additionally, new statistical modeling techniques, such as structural equations modeling, have gained footing in management research. Thus, management researchers are now better able to empirically test more complex research hypotheses, and management as a science is perpetuated. The improvement in researchers' ability to analyze statistics more quickly has resulted in an increase in information about theories of management. Practicing managers may now know of certain relationships that have received strong support through decades of empirical research. Such "truths" may become guiding principles that practicing managers see as ideal solutions to a variety of situations. For instance, numerous empirical studies over several recent decades have supported the relationship between appropriate goal setting and higher work performance. This relationship has been tested in a variety of situations, with a number of contextual influences present, yet the statistical relationship holds in nearly all of them. Thus, a practicing manager may see this body of empirical research and, in a work situation, see the benefits of goal setting on performance as a scientific ideal. He or she may then implement goal setting in a number of practical situations, bolstered by the confidence afforded by decades of research supporting such actions.

Meta-analysis, in particular, is a methodological procedure that has contributed significantly to the study of management. Meta-analysis is a statistical technique that allows a researcher to combine findings from multiple studies, correct for errors in study design, and determine an "average" statistical relationship among variables. Meta-analysis first gained a foothold in management research in studies of the validity of selection techniques for different jobs in different organizations. Before the application of meta-analysis to research on the validity of different selection techniques, there was a belief in the situational specificity of these selection methods. That is, studies of the accuracy of selection techniques in predicting subsequent job performance had such disparate results that academics concluded that validity of a standardized test, for example, would differ dramatically in each selection situation (e.g., with different job applicants, in different organizations, in different geographic regions). This myth was dispelled, however, with the application of meta-analysis to the results of the collected body of research on the validity of selection methods. The use of meta-analysis established that the differences in findings were due primarily to limitations of research design, such as small sample size, unreliability of measures, and other correctable problems. When meta-analysis was applied to this group of studies, they were combined to determine that validates of selection techniques were general across jobs and organizations. Thus, the use of meta-analysis helped to establish that cognitive ability tests and structured interviews were highly valid selection methods in nearly every job. Meta-analysis has now been applied to many different areas of management research, including training, recruitment, fairness, and many other topics. Additionally, there have been a number of refinements to the statistical corrections used in meta-analysis. This increased acceptance of and use of meta-analysis in management research supports the notion of management as a science. Meta-analysis provides for "truths" in managementrelationships between variables that hold strong regardless of the people or situation involved. For instance, one consistent finding is that structured selection interviews, ones in which applicants are asked the same set of predetermined questions, and in which responses are evaluated using the same criteria, are a more valid predictor of future job performance than are unstructured interviews, in which applicants are asked different questions and responses are evaluated using different criteria. Meta-analysis has been used to establish this finding, and thus a practicing manager may use this information as a scientific "fact" when conducting selection interviews.

ART AND SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Management education and development, which attempt to prepare today's managers for organizational challenges, are guided by both the notion of management as an art and as a science. The approach to management education and development is likely to differ dramatically depending on the belief one has as to the nature of the practice of management. The perspective of management as an art assumes to some extent that a manager has a disposition or experiences that guide him or her in managerial decisions and activities. Thus, with this perspective, many managers may be successful without any formal education or training in management. The perspective of management as a science, however, would indicate that management skills can be taught through an understanding of theory and principles of management. Many of today's educational institutions and workplaces blend the notion of management as a science and an art in their approach to preparing employees for management. Primarily, formal management education for practicing managers, such as with bachelors and masters degrees, emphasizes the science of management. Management education in today's universities primarily emphasizes management as a science. Textbooks are used in management courses for bachelors' degrees, and these texts emphasize many of the consistent findings of many decades of management research. And, as these degrees increase in popularity, it is likely that more practicing managers will have a set of established management ideals with which they operate. While formal management education may promote management as a science, many development efforts support the notion of management as an art. To cultivate management talent, organizations offer mentoring, overseas experiences, and job rotation. These activities allow managers to gain greater social and political insight and thus rely on their own judgment and abilities to improve their management style. Much of mentoring involves behavior modeling, in which a protg may learn nuances of managerial behavior rather than a set of specific guidelines for managing. Overseas experiences are likely to involve a great deal of manager adaptation, and the general rules by which a manager might operate in one culture are likely to change when managing workers in other countries. Finally, job rotation is a technique that requires a manager to work in a variety of settings. Again, this encourages a manager to be flexible and adaptive, and likely rely more on his or her personal skill in managing. The foundations of management as an art and management as a science are evident in today's educational institutions and work organizations. Management as a science was primarily influenced by researchers in the area of scientific management, such as Frederick Taylor, and continues today in much of the empirical research on management issues. Management as an art has been influenced by scholars such as Henry Mintzberg and Peter Drucker, and is often evident in complex theories of management. Many scholars and practitioners blend art and science to more effectively cultivate managerial talent. This is evident in recent theories of management, research in workplaces, and education and development of managers.

We all know that science and art are very different in nature. Science, in general, is viewed as knowledge about the structure and behaviour of the natural and physical world, based on facts that you can prove or a system for organizing the knowledge about a particular subject. However, we cannot find a unanimously agreed definition of science. Though there is no entity with the authority to define science, and there are various discussions about its definition, its nature and its motive in philosophy of science, (4) all agree that science is based on rational deduction and experimental induction as shown in the middle left of Figure 1. Post critical philosophy emphasizes the creative subjective aspect of scientists in the process of creating knowledge, but

considerable collective subjectivity, objectivity, rationality and logic are necessary in science (Polanyi, 1958, 1966). Art is viewed as the use of imagination to express ideas or feelings, particularly in painting, drawing or sculpture, or the skill of creating objects such as paintings or drawings, especially when one studies art. In essence, art has nothing to do with objectivity. In general sense, management is the art of handling the different aspects of the organization. And it is also a type of science like the mathematics is a formal science then management is also came in the category of the formal science. But if take a look keenly then, management is totally an art. This is an art that how we communicate with the general people, which came in the management. It is the ability and art of a manager that handles the organization in well manner and keeps growing the organization level because of using his abilities. The word Manage id taken from Italian word "Maneggiare" means to handle, especially to handle or train horses. Here management refers to an Art because managing or training horses is not a science or profession. Managing originally used to indicate other process for managing, training or directing. Management has been called other art of geeting things done through people. The art of management is a personal creative power plus skill in performance. The contemplation of problems, events and possibilities develops personal creative power, while experience, observation, and study of results contribute to skilled performance. In other words management art involves envisioning orderly whole from chaotic parts, communicating other vision, and acheiving other goal. It is other "art of arts" because it organizes and uses human talent The scientific method has played an important role in building managment knowledge and improving managerial skills. The field of management has taken long forward steps since other begining of this century. There is now adequate knoledge for a solid foundation, but it should not be assumed that other scientific method will soon provide all other answers. Managers have to contend with uncertainties that cannot be removed by scientiific endeavour. An important argument for other accumulation of scientific knowledge about management is other need to develop large number of executives. Even though such knowledge is limited, other student can be some significant insights in to other nature of other management problem. Science and technology are today coming to thier full fruition. Hardly a business can continue its affairs without some reference to other scientific and technological systems. The harnessing of science and technical knowlegde is for 'management'. Among other many persons who are occupationally engaged in management, most have qualified earlier in their industrial or commercial cases in specialized technical or professional fields as engineers, chemists, accountants etc. They have risen to higher executive positions through years spent in other specialized pratice of their profession of technology. Ultimately management is both, science and art... Management is incomplete without anyone...

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