Is Management an Art, a Science or Neither - Essay Example

Essay: “Is Management An Art, Science or Neither?” Student’s Name: Course Code: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission: Introduction Management is the process of coordinating the activities of an organization in order to achieve the predetermined goals and objectives of the organization. In management various principles such as division of labour, discipline as well as authority and responsibility, among others must be put into place for effective management (Cole 2004). For this to happen there must be scientific features; universal features, observation and experimentation, validity and predictability as well as cause-effect relationship which will shape the effectiveness of management. All these features are the sources of knowledge needed and must guide the managers in the execution of their duties (Partington 2000). On the other hand, there is the application part of management. The skills and knowledge from the science part need to be put into place through the application which forms the art part of management. Managers must display their knowledge and skills, experience and personality for management to be done effectively. Creativity as well as more practice in the management field needs to be considered when managers are doing their day to day activities (Khalili 2016). Additionally, it is always important to manage with the aim of achieving a specific objective or goal which also constitutes the art of management. This essay will analyze whether management is an art, science or neither. Management as a science Science is a systematic pool of knowledge relating to the particular field of study. It contains facts and concepts which explain a phenomenon to establish cause and effect relationship between variables and the principles guiding their relationship which are developed through observation and experimentation (Dyer, Thoms & Olley2002). Management as a science is characterized by the following features: Universal features According to Sheldrake (2003), management principles are applicable to all types of businesses or organizations regardless of the situation. The ‘scientific management theory’ by Frederick Taylor encompasses the procedural specification and management of organizational tasks in order to achieve the specified objectives of an organization. For things to run smoothly in every organization, management has to have authority to give orders to the junior employees of an organization. There must be good communication between the managers and the employees. Discipline, division of labour, whereas tasks are divided into smaller units and each individual is assigned where to work as well as remuneration has to be paramount in all organizations for the smooth running of the business (Van Vliet 2009). There has to be an established unity of command to reduce collisions between the management and the employees (Singh & Kant 2008). Additionally the degree of centralization has to be balanced in such a way that the decision making process does not take long and every stakeholder feels comfortable with the decisions made. Observation and experimentation In order to come up with management principles, there is need to have a prior observation and scientific enquiry. This helps to identify the needs of employees in order to motivate them and come up with a satisfied workforce. After proper observation managers can decide to use theory X or theory Y in their mission to make sure that organizational goals have been met as they are stipulated (Wren, Bedeian & Breeze 2002). Through observation and experimentation, managers will know workers who lack ambition in their work and who need incentives for their productivity to increase. Managers in this category can use authoritarian leadership style to make their workforce productivity increase. Those who realize that their workforce has responsibility and are self driven will always be encouraging them to participate more either in decision making or even increasing the output for the benefit of the organization. Khalili (2016) says that in order to decide the method or leadership style to use, the manager has to gain scientific knowledge of handling the employees through observing them as well as analyzing them scientifically and this makes management science. Cause effect relationship For every result in an organization, there must be a cause or a catalyst which has been put by stakeholders. Managers need to analyze the outcome of their organization compared to what the inputs were. An organization which has the right resources and safe working environment is likely to yield better results than the one without. Traditional management theories such as the bureaucratic management theory (1930-1950) believed in dividing an organization into hierarchies, where the managers were on top to give orders (Partington 2000). This meant that employees were there to listen to orders, but not to be heard. The human relations theory realized that those theories were dehumanizing and organizations were not yielding the best they could have out of their employees. They understood the rights of workers and the benefits of giving them a better working environment in order to improve their productivity and it worked. This clearly indicates that the better the input the better the results. Intrinsically motivated employees work for the organisation’s goals to be achieved not their own interests. Managers need to know the cause of every outcome in an organization and this is made possible through the scientific cause-relationship feature of management (Singh & Kant 2008). Valid and predictable results All scientific principles can be tested. Their validity determines how predictable they are in the future. A principle like remuneration in management can be tested with two or more different people and the result will be the same (Singh & Kant 2008). A highly motivated worker will always be committed to his work and productivity will be high than a lowly paid employee in every organization. In relation to the subordination of individual interest principle, it is evident that in all organizations’ employees who take the organization’s interest than their own will be more productive in the achievement of the organization goals and objectives. Despite the fact that management has a systematic body of knowledge, it is a social science not like other physical sciences like physics and biology (Wren, Bedeian & Breeze 2002). Managers with this in mind can organize the different systems in the organizations using the systems theory and come up with positive results. Dealing with human behaviour is unpredictable meaning there can be possible inexactness. Management as an art According to Gold, Malhotra & Segars (2001), basically art deal with applying personal skills and knowledge to achieve the desired objectives. Management has artistic features which must be applied by managers in their daily execution of their duties for the organization to increase its productivity which include: Creativity It is the ability to recognize and generate possible alternatives to be used in solving a current issue of the problem. It aims at making better or coming up a unique thing that was not there before. Imagination and intelligence play a big role in defining creativity. Every art must be associated with an element of creativity. Management as an art requires the manager to come up with new ways of organizing resources in an organization in order to achieve the set objectives (Gold, Malhotra & Segars 2001). Going by the contingency theory of management, a manager makes decisions with respect to the situation of the organization at a particular time without generalizing. Current issues are inevitable as change is always permanent in all organizations. Using the chaos theory a manager should be creative to deal new changes without loss or reduction of productivity of an organization. Higher levels of creativity in the management of an organization will bring about satisfaction to all the stakeholders and the organization goals and objectives will be achieved (Cole 2004). Skills in performance Arts require practical knowledge and skills to perform and to outdo other arts. Theoretical knowledge provides the guideline on management but the manager has to be in possession of knowhow on the methods to apply the theory (Khalili 2016). Having enough education or having pursued a course in management does not guarantee one of being a good manager. The application of the learnt principles will determine how effective the manager will be in the execution of his duties in organizing resources. He must know how to organize the different systems affecting the workforce and how they can be manipulated to increase the productivity of the worker in the long run. Events and patterns in the place of work should assist the manager in coming up with programmes that will enhance teamwork for the achievement of the overall goals and objectives of an organization using the systems theory (Singh & Kant 2008). Good managers will make their work efficient by employing the initiative principle where each and every employee will be required to provide information and be involved in the activities of the organization, these skills cannot be learnt in class but they are very important in running an organization making management an art. Personal attributes Theories at disposal to all managers are the same regardless of the place or situation. This does not mean that all managers are the same; performance of the managers as well as their level of success differs from one manager to the other because of personal skills. Knowledge, skills, personality and experience are different among the different managers making their ways of managing different also (Dyer, Thoms & Olley 2002). Others will prefer to be authoritarian while others collect views from the other stakeholders before making any decision. It is evident through the Chaos theory of management that as managers struggle to control resources in an organization, changes will always happen as the organization grow to compete with others. Managers in such events need to use experience, personality as well as knowledge to control new levels of complexity which come as a result of change both in the internal and external environments of the organization (Sheldrake 2003). These artistic features make management more of an art since the success of an organization will depend o the management knowledge and skills. Practicing to perfect Application of theories and principles of management repeatedly for a long period of time increases the effectiveness and efficiency of a manager as deliver his duties. Practice makes perfect is a saying that carries considerable meaning in the management field. At the beginning of executing a particular principle, the manager can use try and error, but with time he will be used and become more efficient in the process of doing again and again (Partington 2000). The management can start using the principle of ‘Esprit de corps’ and fails in the first place due to the different personalities encountered as far as employees are concerned. Continuous attempts to unite the employees and developing morale in the place of work will finally bear fruits simple out of practice (Khalili 2016). Diversity of stakeholders and scarcity of resources to start and run an organization bring challenge to managers in the first place. Through continuous working using the available resources to achieve the objectives, the manager become used to these challenges and continue coming up with new methods of solving issues. This becomes possible through practice. Orientation in goals According to Dyer, Thoms & Olley (2002), for an organization to succeed in terms of output and productivity, it has to be guided by goals and objectives that are predetermined. These act as targets where the firm or the organization wants to meet. The manager should incorporate all resources at disposal to make sure that every activity being done in the organization is aiming at achieving these goals (Wren, Bedeian & Breeze 2002). The process of moulding behaviour and cultivating a positive attitude among the workers in order to reach the organization’s target is an art. Proper proportioning of resources in undertaking an activity needs artistic guidelines for maximization of output. As the manager puts into place various principles of management using the various theories, he should spell out to the mission, vision, goal and objectivities of the organization to the employees as well as other stakeholders to make them work with an aim of achieving the target (Van Vliet 2009). Conclusion Looking at management as science puts the manager on toes in utilizing the management universal principles in all the activities of an organization. Observation and experimentation accompanied by other scientific features justifies the management process as a science. However, several features have also been put forward to show management is an art. These include the various artistic features that the manager has to put into place for smooth running of the organization. In conclusion, the points outlined above reveal that both artistic features and scientific features are combined in the process of effective management. Science in its part provides the necessary knowledge and skills needed in management. The artistic parts of management help in the application of those skills from science to make management a success. For a manager to execute his duties effectively, is there a need for knowledge and for application making management a blend of art and science at the same time? The answer is yes, this is because the two helps one another for effective management and better results to be achieved. Knowing the principles and what is needed for important for example, pursuing a course in management is not enough. There is a need of getting the knowhow. When and where to put in place the principles. This means science lays the foundation and art supports effective management. References Cole, G.A 2004, Management Theory and Practice, Cengage Learning EMEA, South Africa. Dyer, FM., Thoms, J. & Olley, J 2002, The Structure, Function and Management Implications Of Fluvial Sedimentary Systems, IAHS, UK. Gold, A., Malhotra, A & Segars, H 2001, Knowledge management: An organizational capabilities Perspective, Journal of Management Information System, Vol. 18, No. 1 p 185. Khalili, A 2016, Linking Transformational Leadership, Creativity, Innovation-Supportive Climate, Journal of Management Decision, Vol. 54, No.9, pp. 141-150. Partington, D 2000, Building Grounded Theories of Management Action, British Journal of Management Action, Vol. 11, pp. 91-102. Sheldrake, J 2003, Management Theory, Cengage Learning EMEA, South Africa. Singh, M. & Kant R. 2008, Knowledge Management Barriers: An interpretive structural Modeling approach, International Journal of Management and Engineering Management, Vol 3, No 2, pp. 141-150. Van Vliet, V 2009, 14 Principles of Management (Fayol), Retrieved 10th Sept. 2016 from http://www.toolshero.com/management/14-principles-of-management. Wren, D. A., Bedeian, A. G & Breeze, J. D 2002, The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory. Management Decision, Vol. 40, No. 9, pp.906 – 918. Read More