Is management science or art?

Is management science or art?

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Article ID: iaor200970646
Country: United Kingdom
Volume: 25
Issue: 1
Start Page Number: 125
End Page Number: 136
Publication Date: Jan 2008
Journal: Systems Research and Behavioural Science
Authors:
Keywords: systems
Abstract:

In this paper I have drawn a brief picture to map the nature of management in modern high‐tech organizations from the viewpoint of critical systems thinking. First, I 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. Through clarifying three ways of knowing/understanding the world and introducing a new knowledge systems model of modern high‐tech corporations, I argue that in the knowledge age, management is both a science and an art. Objects under consideration belonging to different parts of reality require 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.

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