Method and Progress in Management Science - Essay Example

For example, there has been a shift from efficiency to flexibility in modern management due to the new technological advances, and this situation produces new problems in management. There are many examples of technological advances that were produced in accordance with scientific advances like the clock, electrolysis, electric power distribution, the telegraph, the telephone, canned food, etc. Learner and Phillips (1993) remark that "The commercialization cycle is now so short that many scientific advances cannot be discussed without joint consideration of technology and management.

" Major point #3: Experiment in management sciences is almost impossible since it is extremely difficult to verify the evidence regarding the issues of research through controllable forecasting, which in turn can be very valuable for obtaining practical results in management decision and management science. Learner and Phillips provide evidence to make their point about controllable forecasting in management science by providing the following insight: "Entrail readers and prophets predicted immutable futures, implying that human action is ineffectual before the whim of the gods.

The modern counterpart of this mode of prophecy is statistical time series analysis, which relies only on historical trend to predict the future, without regard to the technological or social processes that drive the variable of interest. It also ignores human intervention. There is another mode of prediction, which we shall refer to as "controllable prediction," in which human goals direct attention to controllable quantities." (Learner and Phillips, 1993). These authors also state the following regarding experiment and verification in management science: "Because fewer variables can be controlled outside the laboratory than in it, reproducibility of results is less useful as a criterion of scientific success, at least from the point of view of a manager who is considering whether to adopt and apply the findings.

Experimentation may be essential for advancing theory in the physical sciences, but in the management sciences experimentation is often too expensive and may be impossible or meaningless." (Learner and Phillips, 1993). Major point #4: Progress in management science can be compared to a leapfrog game where its components (methodology, theory, data, and problems) advance step by step in an unbalanced mode.Author's supporting evidence or examples for major point #4:There is a difference between "substantive theory" and "methodological theory".

As an example, the authors explain the use of the telescope by the astronomer. They also give as an example the great deal of published articles about marketing,