Question 1A

Argue if management is an art or science.

In the modern world, it is of utmost importance to utilize economically and efficiently the resources
of all kinds – human, physical, financial and technological. No organization can achieve its
objectives without the optimum use of these resources. In order to ensure a rational use of the
limited resources, knowledge of ‘management’ is required. Argued below is if management is an
art or science.

It is a fact that science and art are very different in nature. According to Gao (2008) art is viewed
as: the use of imagination to interpret feelings and ideas, particularly in painting, drawing
sculpture, or the skill of creating objects such as paintings or drawings, especially when studying
art. In reality, art has nothing to do with objectivity. It relates to collective, mostly, individual
subjectivity. So can management really be the very antithesis of the use of a body of rigorous
professional knowledge? According to Spender (2006) many writers, like Mintzberg (1976), point
to management as an art form. Although management apparently has imaginative and artistic
aspects, this is not really the point .The point here is to contrast rational way of decision making
against intuitive creation, to imply that it might be more useful to think of business leadership as
something other than cold, objective reasoning (Mintzberg, 1976).

This is why, according to Richardson (2008) managers need to study philosophy. Repeatedly,
managers have to be able to decide which data they need in order to make a decision, to interpret
this theory and even choose what its purpose really is. This is not unexpected, if you take into
consideration that many academic books on the topic often lack any practical suggestions.
Philosophy is a study that inspires personal choice, and in management choices thrive. So, effective
managers should know when a decision has to be based on principle and when it should be made
logically, depending on each case.

Management as an art is an amazing but natural expression of human behavior (Peroff, 1999).
According to Bolman and Deal (1997), managers are both artists and leaders who are able to
develop exceptional solutions and fresh ideas about their organizations' needs. They adjust to
people and events around them and learn to expect the chaotic twirls and turns of managerial life.
“Artistry in management is neither exact nor precise. Artists interpret experience and express it in
forms that can be felt, understood, and appreciated by others. Art allows for emotion, subtlety,
ambiguity. An artist reframes the world so that others can see new possibilities"(Boleman and
Deal, 1997, pp. 17).
To sum up, a significant group of people think of management as an art. In reality, management
personalities, like Microsoft's William Gates and GE's Jack Welch, and their top-down managerial
strategy, have enhanced this idea (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Gao (2008) argues that the reasons
are not only because these people have supported or have gone over the top about personal intuition
and other personal irrational factors such as emotion and intuition in decision-making and
management, but also because no management theory or approach can assure successful practical
accomplishment of a social or economic organization in practice.

So, as we already mentioned, effective management can be considered as an art - the art of getting
things done through people. Thinking of management as an art is possibly more productive,
because it identifies management as something more than just a set of unambiguous techniques.
"Management as art implies inventiveness rather than conformity, practice rather than mere
prescription, wisdom rather than mere knowledge." ( Evered, Selman, 2001 , pp.17 )

Science, on the other hand, even though there is no commonly agreed definition for it, is viewed
as knowledge about the behavior and structure of the world, based on facts. However, according
to Gao (2008), even though there is no body with the authority to define science, and there are
various discussions about its definition, its nature and its motive in philosophy of science,
everybody agrees that science is based on rational assumption and experimental orientation. .
Science “is the organized, systematic enterprise that gathers knowledge about the world and
condenses the knowledge into testable laws and principles"(Wilson, 1998, pp. 53). Polany
suggested that 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 (Polany, 1958).

According to Wilson (1998) science involves the expansion of sensory capacity by instruments,
the categorization of data, and the analysis of data guided by theory. "Science, is extraordinary .
With the aid of science, we can visualize matter across 37 orders of magnitude, from the largest
galactic cluster to the smallest known particle."(Wilson, 1998a, pp.47) As long as science is used
properly it can be really useful for everybody's everyday life.

Management as a science was firstly characterized by Frederick Taylor (1911) and Gulick (1937).
Scientific Management considered employees as tools for the achievement of organizational goals.
Frederick W. Taylor believed that with the help of time and motion studies he could find out the
best way for the accomplishment of a task - and that workers should be very pleased that were
imposed to do precisely what they were instructed. The needs of the organization were separated
from the needs of the individual. In Peter Drucker's (1998) words, Frederick W. Taylor was the
first man in recorded history who deemed work deserving of systematic observation and study; on
Taylor's 'scientific management' rests, above all, the tremendous surge of affluence in the last
seventy-five years which has lifted the working masses in the developed countries well above any
level recorded before, even for the well-to-do. Frederic W. Taylor, though, placed the main
foundation, however, not much has been added to them since - even though Taylor has been dead
for over sixty years.

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 (Ulrich, 2004). 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 a science.
(Churchman, 1955, 1971, Ackoff, 1979).

Even though the answer, to if management is an art or a science, could be both, either or neither.
Some people think management is indeed a science, because of the scientific principles and rules
that exist (like Taylor's scientific management theories and Weber's administration of social and
economic organization) and that can be applied for improving the productivity and efficiency of
organizations, profit or nonprofit, private or public (Taylor, 1911; Weber, 1947).

Overall, Management knowledge exhibits characteristics of both art and science; the two are not
mutually exclusive but supplementary. Management may be understood as an art on account of
the following reasons:

Firstly, the knowledge of Management like other arts has ‘practical application’. It is applied to
specific situations for better results. In every situation, manager strives to solve the problem
efficiently or make superior quality decisions to realize the objectives or meet the target with
minimum efforts and resources.
Secondly, with continuous application of management knowledge in various situations, the
manager gains experience. With the passage of time, the manger gathers more and more experience
which becomes his ‘personal possession’ and can’t be transferred. Consequently, managers having
greater experience in using principles of management become more efficient. They develop more
skills and abilities for translating management knowledge into practice.

Apart from that, application of management knowledge calls for ‘creativity and innovativeness’.
On the basis of fundamentals of managerial knowledge, analytical abilities and foresightedness,
the manager goes on discovering new ideas, relationships and more efficient ways of doing things.

Lastly, in many situations, theoretical knowledge of management may not be adequate or relevant
for solving the problem. It may be due to complexities or uniqueness involved in the problem. In
such a situation, the manager has to rely more on his past experience, perception, intuition and
judgment. Sometimes, the manager may restructure the problem by applying creativity and
personal experience and find a solution.

Management as a Science: Management, as a science bears the following characteristics:

To start with, Management is a ‘systematic body of knowledge’ consisting of principles of

generalizations, approaches and concepts which are to be applied in practical situations. This
knowledge helps the managers to understand the process of management and the problems
involved in it.

Furthermore, the principles, generalizations and concepts of management have been developed
and formulated on the basis of observation, research, analysis and experimentation as is in the case
with the principle of other sciences.

In addition, like other sciences, the management principles are also based on relationship of ‘cause
and effect’. They indicate that same cause under similar situations/circumstances will produce
same effect.

Again, Management knowledge and its principles are ‘codified and systematized’ and can be
transferred form one manager to another and can be taught.

Lastly, Management principles are ‘universally applicable’ to all types of organizations. They are
generalized in nature, forming general guidelines for the managers to practice.
Thus, on the basis of the basic nature of management knowledge, it is widely accepted that
management is a combination of both art and science. Management knowledge exhibits
characteristics of both art and science; the two are not mutually exclusive but supplement each
other. Argued above was if management is an art or science