Art or Science?

Management is the art and science of making appropriate choices. The function of management is becoming more complex. The role of the manager today is much different from what it was many years ago. At the turn of the century the business manager’s objective was to keep his company running and to make a profit.

Most firms were production oriented. Few constraints affected management’s decisions. Governmental agencies imposed little regulations on business. The modern manager must now consider the environment in which the organization operates and be prepared to adopt a wider perspective. That is, the manager just have a good understanding of management principles, an appreciation of the current issues and broader objectives of the total economic, political, social, and ecological system in which we live, and he must possess the ability to analyze complex problems.

The modern manager should recognize and be able to evaluate the needs of the total context in which his business functions. Modern management must possess the ability to make decisions that will allocate scarce resources effectively. A major part of the manager’s job will be to predict what the environment needs and what changes will occur in the future.

Management is the process by which these human efforts are combined with each other and with material resources. Management encompasses both science and art. In designing plans and products, management must draw on technology and physical science, of course, and, the behavioral sciences also can contribute to management.

However, much you hear about “management science”, in managing organizations it is necessary to draw on intuition and subjective judgment. The more decisions can be analyzed, the better the results of business activity are. But although the artistic side of management may be declining in its proportion of the whole process it will remain central and critical portion of your future jobs.

Ex.15 Answer the questions and make a plan of the text.

1. What ability must modern management possess?

2. Is the function of management becoming more complex nowadays?

3. Most firms were production oriented, weren’t they?

4. What does management mean?

5. What will remain central and critical portion of our future jobs?

Ex.16 Read the text and copy out new words.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1177