Management science has contributed insights and solutions is vast. It includes scheduling airlines, both planes and crew, deciding the appropriate place to site new facilities such as a warehouse or factory, managing the flow of water from reservoirs, identifying possible future development paths for parts of the telecommunications industry, establishing the information needs and appropriate systems to supply them within the health service, and identifying and understanding the strategies adopted by companies for their information systems.
Science is characterized by following main features-
Experimentation and Observation –
Scientific principles are derived through scientific investigation & researching i.e. they are based on logic. E.g. the principle that earth goes round the sun has been scientifically proved.
Management principles are also based on scientific enquiry & observation and not only on the opinion of Henry Fayol. They have been developed through experiments & practical experiences of large no. of managers..
Universally acceptance principles –
Scientific principles represents basic truth about a particular field of enquiry. These principles may be applied in all situations, at all time & at all places. E.g. – law of gravitation which can be applied in all countries irrespective of the time.
Management also contains some fundamental principles which can be applied universally like the Principle of Unity of Command i.e. one man, one boss. This principle is applicable to all type of organization – business or non business.
Cause and Effect Relationship –
Principles of science lay down cause and effect relationship between various variables. E.g. when metals are heated, they are expanded. The cause is heating & result is expansion.
The same is true for management, therefore it also establishes cause and effect relationship. E.g. lack of parity (balance) between authority & responsibility will lead to ineffectiveness. If you know the cause i.e. lack of balance, the effect can be ascertained easily i.e. in effectiveness.
Test of Validity & Predictability –
Validity of scientific principles can be tested at any time or any number of times i.e. they stand the test of time. Each time these tests will give same result. Moreover future events can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by using scientific principles. E.g. H2 & O2 will always give H2O.
Principles of management can also be tested for validity. E.g. principle of unity of command can be tested by comparing two persons – one having single boss and one having 2 bosses.
It cannot be denied that management has a systematic body of knowledge but it is not as exact as that of other physical sciences like biology, physics, and chemistry etc. The main reason for the inexactness of science of management is that it deals with human beings and it is very difficult to predict their behavior accurately.
