MANAGEMENT CHANGE

Management Change

Is the management of change more akin to art or science?

Introduction

One of the most important questions in the field of management is that whether it is part of science or whether it is part of art. According to Webster's College Dictionary, Art has been defined as a skill which is needed in conducting any human activity whereas science is concern; it is defined as any skill needed to reflect a specific facts or principles application. In these definitions, there is a particular way in which manager should act. Therefore, management as a science indicates that manager would be using specific body of information and facts in order guide their behaviours, nevertheless, management as an art does not needs any particular body of knowledge, what is requires is skill. Similarly, few people who perceive that management is an art, the reason for this concept is due to that fact that there is no particular method for teaching or understanding management rather it is a skill that is borne inside the person i.e. it is personality and ability of management.

The focus of this paper is to see whether management of change more akin to art or science or it is mixture of them.

Discussion

According to many management books, management is somewhat part of art as well as of science. It is art in sense of that it makes people more effective and more responsive while it is science in sense how would a person implementing that. Researchers have identified four pillars of management without which management is incomplete. These pillars are plan, organize, direct and monitor. They further stated that how a manager implements in an effective manner is an art (Arnone, 1999, p. 2).

Management Foundations - Science Perspective

Managers who think that management is a science, they tend to consider this since in many situations ideal managerial practices are necessary. When managers faced any managerial dilemma, these managers will always looks for rational since their perception towards the management is that there is also a scientific way to deal with the management problems and their main objection is constantly been to determine the correct action for the managerial problem. At this point, managers would be following and implementing different theories and general principles associates with the problem and hence formulating and testing hypothesis for better outcome. Consider if a manager having a problem with poor performance and productivity of the employees, here this manager would be looking for a particular ways do that employees' performance can be improved, with the expectation that certain management principle would be working in most circumstance and employee performance and productivity will e improved. Managers usually rely on concepts that they have learned and understand in their business school or via different training courses and workshops. They linked their concept with different course of actions excluding the factors such as political and social which are much involved in the situations (Blokdijk, 2012, p. 121).

Previous management researchers have termed managers as a ...