Management Science or Management/Science?

Rick Hesse
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Rick Hesse: College of Business Administration, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182

Interfaces, 1980, vol. 10, issue 1, 104-109

Abstract: The object of Management Science 35 years ago was to blend Management (concerned with people, organizational structure, motivation, leadership) and Science (concerned with rationality, theory, systems, the impersonal) into a working relationship. Management Science got its start working on problems that were too big for any one individual to approach. It was seen that a team effort to synthesize different perspectives was needed to tackle large problems. Many managers disliked this new field because it threatened to take away their jobs and thus somehow the whole discipline was shunted off towards Science, with mathematics, rather than problems, being the rationale for existence. Thus Management Science became Management/Science and problems developed in the interface between managers and scientists. A group of people called “managers” would look at operations, make decisions, and manage the company. Another group called “scientists” would do research on theoretical problems and develop algorithms; they were relegated to the back room with the computer experts and accountants. Thus developed Management/Science, Operations/Research, and Decision/Sciences which produced the “corruption” of Management/Science.

Keywords: professional:; OR/MS; philosophy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1980
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