Why management is an art

Sometimes Art is defined as the application of general theoretical principles in a personalized way in order to achieve the best possible results.

Following are a few of the characteristics of Art:. Every artist requires to have practical knowledge before learning and executing theory because theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. Similarly, every manager would require to have practical knowledge which in combination with his theoretical knowledge would help him succeed in the career of management.

Manager cannot be a successful simple obtaining degree in management but he has to know the application of his knowledge and the theoretical principles in real-life situations and also in the capacity of a manager. On the contrary, having only practical knowledge will also not be very helpful for him because in order to upgrade the knowledge which is obtained practically one should always go through theoretical knowledge. The theoretical base is almost the same for every artist but every person has our own approach towards the job which would be referred to as a personal style that would be influenced by personal skills.

This is the reason why the level of success along with the performance quality is different and varies from person to person. For example, there could be multiple graduates from Harvard business school, but only a few of them would have made their career and rest would not be equal to them. This happens because of the presence of a personal factor that cannot be considered as constant in every manager. This is also why every manager is different and will have different styles of management.

Every manager manages things based on his own experience knowledge personality and style. This is also the reason why some managers are classified as bad managers while others are termed as good managers. Every artist is expected to have creative abilities. The aim is to create something based on intelligence and imagination.

Similarly management also requires creativity and in fact, it is considered as one of the crucial characteristics of management. Without creativity and intelligence, no manager can survive in the management field. The aim is to produce something which has never existed. For managers, it is usually a solution to a problem for which they require a combination of intelligence as well as creativity.

Management combines human along with non-human elements and produces desirable results for the organization. It is a common saying that practice paves the road for perfection. Even in the case of art, practice makes beautiful artistic outputs. Similarly, in the case of management practices, it is what is desirable for every manager. It can be a practice of theoretical knowledge of practical experience, in other cases, it is desirable that the manager keeps the practice constant in order to reach perfection.

In the case of managers managing people is what requires a lot of practice. Over the years manager perfects the art of managing the people as well as his work. Art is considered as result-oriented because it seeks to achieve measurable and concrete results. Synergy in the case of management manager should be result-oriented in order to promote self as well as organizational growth.

The Goals are predetermined and set during the start of the financial year in every organization to which both the manager as well as the employee agrees to. There is a vast amount of resources to learn and develop industry knowledge on art which includes study materials and books available to help artists acquire a better understanding and deliver quality output. However, the same thing applies to management. There is theoretical knowledge acquired through learning.

In other words, managers can learn about management operations and principles provided in study materials. Personalized Application. About Sonia Kukreja I am a mother of a lovely kid, and an avid fan technology, computing and management related topics. The above mentioned points clearly reveals that management combines features of both science as well as art. A profession may be defined as an occupation that requires specialized knowledge and intensive academic preparations to which entry is regulated by a representative body.

The essentials of a profession are: 1. Specialized Knowledge — A profession must have a systematic body of knowledge that can be used for development of professionals. Every professional must make deliberate efforts to acquire expertise in the principles and techniques. Similarly a manager must have devotion and involvement to acquire expertise in the science of management. No one can practice a profession without going through a prescribed course.

Many institutes of management have been set up for imparting education and training. For example, MBA may be preferred but not necessary. Social Obligations — Profession is a source of livelihood but professionals are primarily motivated by the desire to serve the society.

Their actions are influenced by social norms and values. Similarly a manager is responsible not only to its owners but also to the society and therefore he is expected to provide quality goods at reasonable prices to the society. Code of Conduct — Members of a profession have to abide by a code of conduct which contains certain rules and regulations, norms of honesty, integrity and special ethics.

A code of conduct is enforced by a representative association to ensure self discipline among its members. Any member violating the code of conduct can be punished and his membership can be withdrawn. The AIMA has prescribed a code of conduct for managers but it has no right to take legal action against any manager who violates it.

Representative Association — For the regulation of profession, existence of a representative body is a must. For example, an institute of Charted Accountants of India establishes and administers standards of competence for the auditors but the AIMA Alternative Investment Management Association however does not have any statuary powers to regulate the activities of managers. From above discussion, it is quite clear that management fulfills several essentials of a profession, even then it is not a full fledged profession because: - a.

It does not restrict the entry in managerial jobs for account of one standard or other. No minimum qualifications have been prescribed for managers.

No management association has the authority to grant a certificate of practice to various managers. All managers are supposed to abide by the code formulated by AIMA e. Competent education and training facilities do not exist.

Managers are responsible to many groups such as shareholders, employees and society. A regulatory code may curtail their freedom. Managers are known by their performance and not mere degrees.