Management Is an Art and a Science
Management can be defined as the effective and efficient coordination of resources in order to achieve desired objectives. It is the process of planning, organizing, coordinating, directing and controlling resources such as human beings, material, time and money to accomplish organizational mission. All organizations have objectives that are the desired targets that the manager hopes to achieve. The primary purpose of management is to convert resources into results.
A resource by itself is nothing, it remains sterile until it is managed to provide the results. A result is the consequence of purposeful activity, which is management. A manager must therefore, plan, organize, direct and coordinate activities to convert the sterile and inert resources into product resources (the desired objectives). Management is therefore, the action of getting things done through people. It means optimizing the use of human and material resources for the attainment of desired objectives. In its effort to fulfill its functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling, the field of management has borrowed extensively from different disciplines namely psychology, sociology, mathematics and decision sciences.
Management as an art
Art refers to the way of doing specific things. It is the skill in conducting any human activity. Art indicate how an object can be achieved. According to George R.Terry 1980 Art is bringing about of a desired through the application of skill. Art is therefore, a skilful application of knowledge which entirely depends on the inherent capacity of a person and is learned from practice and experience. Art is concerned with the understanding of how a particular work can be accomplished. In this sense, management is certainly an art as manager uses his skill, knowledge and experience in solving various problems that arise in the working of his enterprise successful. Earnest Dale ().
Management is considered as an art rather than science mainly because managerial is personal profession and intuitive. Therefore, management is an art, simple because managing requires certain skills which are a personal possession of the managers. In additional, management is an art of getting things done through others in dynamic and mostly non-repetitive situations. The resources of men, machine and money have to be coordinated against several constraints to achieve given objectives in the most efficient manner. This requires skill.
Management as a science
Science can be described as a systematical body of knowledge based on proper findings and exact principles and is capable of verification. It is a reservoir of fundamental truths and its findings apply in all the situations. Science is knowledge as of facts and principles; knowledge gained by systematic study or observation and experimentation. The methods used in scientific inquiries are systematic and empirical. Moreover, information can be ordered and analyzed and the result or findings of scientific studies are cumulative. Based on this, management is a science because it has developed some systematized knowledge.
Like other sciences management has also developed certain principles, laws and generalization which are universal in nature and applicable wherever the efforts of the people are to be coordinated. Managers often use a specific body of knowledge consisting of principles, generalization, approaches and concepts to apply in certain situations. These principles of management have been developed an formulated on the basis of observation, research, analysis and experimentation and also based on the relationship of cause and effect like other sciences. Furthermore, management deals with people and it is very difficult to predict their behavior accurately.
Management empirical studies the man and the factors affecting him to understand human behavior in the work place. It is therefore a behavioral science. Managers when faced with managerial problems usually expect that there is a rational an objective way to determine the correct course of action. Lastly, early management researchers subscribed to the vision of managers as scientists. The scientific management movement was the primary drive of this perspective.
The scientific management emphasis on both reducing the inefficiencies and on understanding the psychology of workers, changed managers and employee attitudes towards the practice of management. This is evident with the development of early scientific theories of management such as the classical and scientific management theory by Fredrick Taylor, neo – classical approach, Weber’s Theory of Bureaucracy, behavioural approach and others which emphasized the scientific approach to management.
Conclusion
In conclusion, management is an art as well as a science. It involves both the elements of art and science. It is considered an art because managing requires application of certain skills and a science because it has an organized body of knowledge which contains certain universal truths. The science provides the knowledge and the art deals with the application of knowledge and skills. According to the American society of mechanical Engineers, management is the art and science of preparing, organizing and directing human efforts to control the forces and utilize the material of nature for the benefit of men. Thus, it has now been accepted that management is both an art and a science.
