Is management an art? Or science?
Is management an art? Or is it science?
[It was the class room debate in the “Entrepreneurship and Management” class, and this was my argument saying that, “management is an art.”]
For the time being, you forget the term ‘management’. Consider this nature. What do you call this nature as? As an art? Or is it science? We say that, this nature is a beautiful art; it’s a great gift to us by god. We compare this to a great painter’s great painting. But what this nature is actually made up of? It’s nothing other than all those chemical reactions such as, condensation, evaporation, deformation, sedimentation, etc. This is nothing but science. Still, nature is an art. In the same way, “management” ‘IS’ an art; but it has ‘science’.
We can define art as, ‘production of something beautiful’ and science as, ‘part of the knowledge which are studied in the systematic way’. Then, what is management? When it was asked to a famous management guru, he told us to join the following 9 points with the help of only 4 continuous straight lines.
If you apply any scientific rules like Euler’s rule, you’ll go mad!!! And the solution is this:-
He explains, if you are bound to a boundary, you cannot manage anything well. Going beyond the principles is management. Thinking beyond a limit is management. Our science restricts us to the ‘principles’. That’s why management is not a science.
Swami Vivekananda had told, “Give me 100 people; I’ll build a new nation”. He knew the art of ‘managing the human power. It was only one Gandhi, who united all Indians for the freedom fighting. Why all our national leaders of now-a-days have not been able to unite all of us together if it were ‘management science?’ Because, it’s an art! This was the mistake during 2nd world war that, many powerful leaders thought “atomic bomb” as the gift of science. They didn’t think beyond. You know the later result!
We all have been studying science from the last many years. That’s why we see the world in the “science window”. The famous Kannada poet Dinakara Desai has rightly said,
“Avaravara manadanthe drushtiyoo bere
Kaviya kannige Chandra hendathiya more,
Chikka makkalige shashi baandalada chendu,
Vijnaanigaligella bari kallu-gundu!!!”
That means, our stand-point depends on our mentality. So, we treat management as science, although it’s an art. We think that, without a MBA degree, you’ll not be a good manager.
Think again: It was Dheeru bhai Ambani, who built the great “reliance group”. But his two sons, who were master degree holders from the universities like Stanford, that too from the courses like management, divided the group! Management doesn’t come through experiments; it comes through our experiences!!!
The oxford dictionary meaning of an art says, “It is production of something beautiful.”But science is, “the part of the knowledge which is systematic.” Management judged only by the output; not by the process in which it is done. I’ll stress more on it: Suppose you have arranged a party for your hundred friends. And you have only exact 100 ice-creams. But surprisingly, 150 friends will come there. How will you manage that situation then? You will do by 2’s and by 3’s right?! Just remember that, for the formation of 2 moles of water, you need to have 2 moles of hydrogen and 1 mole of oxygen. Suppose if you say that I have only 1 mole of hydrogen and I need to prepare 1 mole of water, you cannot do any by 2’s!!! This is management falls to the art section!
Living on this earth itself is an art. But sometimes, art needs science. That’s all. When science is added to art, the art becomes more beautiful.
D.V.G has rightly said:-
“Hale beru- Hosa chiguru koodiralu mara sobagu;
Hale thathwa hosa yukthiyodagoode dharma;
Rushi vaakyadode vijnaana kale melavise,
Jasavu Jana jeevanake manku thimma!”
Let’s try to make management more beautiful!!!
[It was the class room debate in the “Entrepreneurship and Management” class, and this was my argument saying that, “management is an art.”]
For the time being, you forget the term ‘management’. Consider this nature. What do you call this nature as? As an art? Or is it science? We say that, this nature is a beautiful art; it’s a great gift to us by god. We compare this to a great painter’s great painting. But what this nature is actually made up of? It’s nothing other than all those chemical reactions such as, condensation, evaporation, deformation, sedimentation, etc. This is nothing but science. Still, nature is an art. In the same way, “management” ‘IS’ an art; but it has ‘science’.
We can define art as, ‘production of something beautiful’ and science as, ‘part of the knowledge which are studied in the systematic way’. Then, what is management? When it was asked to a famous management guru, he told us to join the following 9 points with the help of only 4 continuous straight lines.
If you apply any scientific rules like Euler’s rule, you’ll go mad!!! And the solution is this:-
He explains, if you are bound to a boundary, you cannot manage anything well. Going beyond the principles is management. Thinking beyond a limit is management. Our science restricts us to the ‘principles’. That’s why management is not a science.
Swami Vivekananda had told, “Give me 100 people; I’ll build a new nation”. He knew the art of ‘managing the human power. It was only one Gandhi, who united all Indians for the freedom fighting. Why all our national leaders of now-a-days have not been able to unite all of us together if it were ‘management science?’ Because, it’s an art! This was the mistake during 2nd world war that, many powerful leaders thought “atomic bomb” as the gift of science. They didn’t think beyond. You know the later result!
We all have been studying science from the last many years. That’s why we see the world in the “science window”. The famous Kannada poet Dinakara Desai has rightly said,
“Avaravara manadanthe drushtiyoo bere
Kaviya kannige Chandra hendathiya more,
Chikka makkalige shashi baandalada chendu,
Vijnaanigaligella bari kallu-gundu!!!”
That means, our stand-point depends on our mentality. So, we treat management as science, although it’s an art. We think that, without a MBA degree, you’ll not be a good manager.
Think again: It was Dheeru bhai Ambani, who built the great “reliance group”. But his two sons, who were master degree holders from the universities like Stanford, that too from the courses like management, divided the group! Management doesn’t come through experiments; it comes through our experiences!!!
The oxford dictionary meaning of an art says, “It is production of something beautiful.”But science is, “the part of the knowledge which is systematic.” Management judged only by the output; not by the process in which it is done. I’ll stress more on it: Suppose you have arranged a party for your hundred friends. And you have only exact 100 ice-creams. But surprisingly, 150 friends will come there. How will you manage that situation then? You will do by 2’s and by 3’s right?! Just remember that, for the formation of 2 moles of water, you need to have 2 moles of hydrogen and 1 mole of oxygen. Suppose if you say that I have only 1 mole of hydrogen and I need to prepare 1 mole of water, you cannot do any by 2’s!!! This is management falls to the art section!
Living on this earth itself is an art. But sometimes, art needs science. That’s all. When science is added to art, the art becomes more beautiful.
D.V.G has rightly said:-
“Hale beru- Hosa chiguru koodiralu mara sobagu;
Hale thathwa hosa yukthiyodagoode dharma;
Rushi vaakyadode vijnaana kale melavise,
Jasavu Jana jeevanake manku thimma!”
Let’s try to make management more beautiful!!!
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