Management is a science or an art

Management like most other arts involves some degree of skill and talent, but management makes use of underlying knowledge (science) and applies it in the light of the realities to achieve results. Most of the work of managing involves dealing with people, their actions and reactions, there has yet to be developed a science to deal with such issues.
     
The most productive art however is always based on an understanding of the science underlying, and management is a science to the extent that it utilizes well systematised theories. Managers who attempt to manage without theories and without knowledge structured by theory must trust their luck, intuition or past actions. But with organized knowledge they have a far better chance of succeeding. Art and science are therefore not mutually exclusive but complementary and as science improves so too should art.
       
Although a lot of science and scientific methods are being used in management e.g. computers and electronic data processing, there is yet no complete and universally accepted science of managing. A lot of the areas of managing still remain poorly understood, for instance a lot needs to be learned about people and therefore it is difficult to categorise management as science. Until complete knowledge is gained and developed into well systematised and tested theories management must still remain in the arts. But the improvements made to management by science must not be ignored.