Management as Science, ART and Profession

It has been said that management is an art which is struggling to become a science. Others in the opinion that the study of management began as a science, but due to various factors, it has taken the form of “soft” science. There is no readymade answer to this controversy. It’ll be better to analyse the words science and art and then apply these to ‘management’ to get a clear idea.

Management as Science:

Oxford Dictionary has defined science as a “systematically” organized body of knowledge on any subject. Systematised knowledge can be acquired through discovery, verification, and codification and only then the knowledge becomes organized. This body of knowledge should have logical consistency, its principles and roles should be universally applicable, and its structure and elements should conform to ‘the cause-and-effect relationship.

Based on the above, we can say that management is a science because it has an organized and systematized body of knowledge which has been built up by management philosophers over a long period. The principles of management are developed after continued observation. These principles are universally applicable. Subject Management also helps in analysing the ’cause-and-effect’ relationship of a particular activity. The principles can also be verified and can serve as a basis for predicting the future.