Is Management Beyond Art and Craft? – Professor M.S.Rao

There is a controversy whether management is an art or craft. There is also controversy whether management is an art or a science. There are various schools of thought substantiating management as an art and also as a science. But before we discuss this let us know what the management is all about.

Management is all about managing people with the available resources to accomplish the desired objectives. It is the art of managing people and the craft of managing resources. Management is an ancient art and man applied it the day he was born. Man manages his needs from cradle to grave. Management starts with man and ends with man as man needs this art right from the day one. At the same time we cannot end up by saying that management is art alone, but it is also a craft and science. Any science must have set of rules and regulations, principles and procedures and theories and applications. We can also assert that management is a science as it has all ingredients of a science.

However, when we look at management from other perspective, it cannot be proved as a science in totality. There are certain things that cannot be proved in management as management involves emotions, egos and feelings of the individuals. Other sciences can be proved through laboratory experiments. That is the reason why there are case study discussions while imparting management education to students. And there are no right or wrong answers during the discussion. However, the majority decision based on the context prevails. In addition, management is also a craft that can be developed. Hence, management is not only an art but also a craft and something beyond.


Final Word

Management is a set of activities. It is blend of both art and craft and goes beyond that. Hence, it is difficult to justify management as either an art or a science alone. It is basically an art but now evolved as a science. Management is the oldest art and the youngest science. Man manages many things right from the day he was born until he dies in order to survive. Management involves the process from cradle to grave. To conclude, management is a blend of both art and craft and taking the best of both the worlds and goes beyond that as it contains the characteristics of science as well.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



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