On Education in Management Science

The process of establishing management studies as a recognized academic discipline has been fraught with numerous difficulties. Even in the US with its very long tradition of tolerating these studies in the academic environment, where expansion of university activity in this area has been quite phenomenal since World War II, the arguments as to the scope and content of management studies have not abated, and will probably continue to rage for many years to come. The plethora of programmes, even the variety of titles used to describe them, is evidence of the divergence of views held on this subject. There are programmes of business administration run by powerful and popular business schools, there are programmes in operational research, in management science, in industrial management, in industrial engineering—to mention just some of the prevalent titles. They all have their own philosophies, their own emphasis on what is regarded as a relevant range of subjects that students should cover in some depth if they aspire to practise in some aspect of management during their future careers.