There are facts, skills, procedures, techniques and methodologies applicable to the field of management that are generally agreed upon. However, the field of management is still evolving and is filled with diverse options and conclusions concerning events, trends, and desired outcomes.
As a manager or a student of management, you should listen and read the diverse options and ideas and research of a broad spectrum of people, and then to come to your own conclusions based on your own logic and understanding of all the information. That process is the essence of individual intellectual growth. Being able and willing to listen to and read diverse and often contradictory arguments, come to your own conclusion and then be able to explain your conclusion and support it with a logical and rational explanation, is the mark of an educated person. While you may disagree with some or even most of an author’s or speaker’s opinions, analysis or ideas, you are still personally enriched by reading and hearing other perspectives.
In my career, I have read listened to numerous speakers and read many textbooks and popular books on various aspects of management and leadership. Some were very good, some not so good, and unfortunately some were very misleading. In any presentation or book, the background and interests of the authors are evident by what information and perspectives that they include and exclude, and the contexts they chose to place their opinions within.
In my opinion, some of the worst books on management and leadership are being authored by academics from related disciplines with little or no practical management experience outside of academia. Authors from the field of Public Administration are giving credence to bureaucratic models and approaches that were long ago proven inferior to the enlightened anti-bureaucratic models of modern entrepreneurs. A disturbing amount of pseudo-science supposedly from the fields of sociology and psychology has made its way into the management textbooks of major publishers. In many cases, political correctness trumps facts and true science. Foundational theories of management and human behavior are being inadequately explained or incorrectly presented leading to chains of fallacious extrapolations.
If you are serious about improving your managerial knowledge and abilities, then listen to or read every textbook, article or essay that you can, but do so with a critical perspective. By a critical perspective, I mean that you should ask yourself, does that make sense? Does it fit into reality? Is it an oversimplification? Is it based on facts or assumptions? Is it logical or just wishful thinking? If not, then why? I think you will actually enjoy your readings more and feel you are learning more if you engage in this sort of critical analysis. One final thought, the Roman philosopher Plutarch once wrote, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled”.
Dr. Doug
- “It Ain’t Necessarily So” is the title of a popular song by George and Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins’ opera Porgy and Bess (1935).