1、Characteristics of Management Science管理学专业英语教程（第四版）管理学专业英语教程（第四版）OutlinesOutlines123 Some Observations on the Discipline A Business as a System The Business as a Set of Beliefs45 Uncertainty in Business Opportunities in Management ScienceSome Observations on the DisciplineManagement ScienceBroadly w
2、ith business activitiesBe different than the physical sciencesSomeone do not accept the differenceBy abstracting from people as subjects only those characteristics that are ascribable to things.Some Observations on the DisciplineFudan UniversityRegularities can be observed directlyValues can be obje
3、ctively statedManagement Science are limited to business matters already held fixedAvoid two basic issues the need for exploring and portraying the relations of businessmens assumptions and values to systems for attaining effective joint performance among people the need for effective means for conv
4、eying knowledge of such relationships to such people.Some Observations on the DisciplineFudan UniversityThe results of research work are expressed in termsThose employed for the broader study of business operationsConclusionAll operations are constituted in ways similar to basically routine operatio
5、ns,and similarly are amenable to scientific arrangement in the narrow sense.SimilarA Business as a SystemHow men would act under a given set of circumstances How men can then be manipulated to achieve a certain result then mechanistic systems could be built of much larger scope,and they would make s
6、ense.Fudan UniversityBusinessRepresented and described Some kind of systemThe system of the Electrical Engineer or the MathematicianDescribe the behavior of peopleA Business as a SystemvA paradox here.For:Fudan University1.Are the simple assumptions truly representative of what men seek with the sys
7、tems they have created?2.If such a function is assumed as representative,can one discover how men should behave to achieve such an objective?3.If such optimal behavior is then disclosed,will not there arise in the very minds,ought we to act this way?A Business as a SystemvAppears that Fudan Universi
8、tyProcess of observing,deriving and disclosingWhat has been observed.influenceUnless the people in the business change their assumptions,objectives,beliefs and knowledge,there can be no hope of achieving maximization,minimization or optimization of even those simple objective functionsA Business as
9、a SystemvThe important point:cannot study them as though they were transducers,selsyns or computers-as depersonalized elements of the system alone.Fudan UniversityTheir actions affect the systems design and performance.BecauseThe Business as a Set of BeliefsvA unique property:the property of man-mad
10、e purposevThe point here is again that unless beliefs are changed,there can be no change in effectiveness.Fudan UniversityUncertainty in BusinessInanimate nature:founded on the quite justifiable expectation of regularity,reproducibility and immutabilityBusiness:founded in the perception of an opport
11、unity of limited scope and variety in an environment of virtually unlimited varietyEncounter unpredictable change and inevitable riskUncertainty in BusinessMethods of empirically oriented sciencesmore does seem possible.An observed pattern of business events.Describe E.g.“in the light of certain obs
12、ervations,if certain assumptions are true then certain conclusions are valid.”They are conditional,not assertive.But their value lies precisely in the way observation is assumptions and conclusions are related.Uncertainty in Businessv5 remarks 1.Management Scientist cannot become an expert by discov
13、ering and citing immutable principles and law of relationship.2.Directly observable regularities and patterns are not usually the cause of decisive events.Reliance on such direct relationship leaves only limited opportunity for impact and in those areas where matters are held more or less fixed as a
14、 matter of policy.Uncertainty in Business 3.It is in the flux of these combinations and their recognition that a business opportunity may be grasped.Nor is it likely that such combinations are easily reproduced.4.Despite its best disclosures,the business is not the abstract formulation of Management
15、 Science.5.This ability to observe,to think,to decide is their privilege,their responsibility and their risk.Uncertainty in BusinessvTwo basic questions 1.Is the scientists systematic approach to the study of past,existing or future possible combinations of events more reliable than the businessmans
16、 intuition?2.What are the opportunities for Management Science and its practitioners?Opportunities in Management ScienceInstitutions of large numbers of people organized for effective joint performance as people-not as ciphers or machines.EphemeralContingentFinitePurposeful universePremise:AcceptOpp
17、ortunities in Management SciencevResults of scientific work Not the study of man and his institutions for the purpose of better understanding man.Not to discover immutable law in the workings of such institutions for the purpose of their subsequent design or manipulation.To aid the men so situated i
18、n better estimating and appraising their own situation,collectively as an organization and individually as observing,believing,thinking and acting parts of such organizations.Opportunities in Management Sciencev3 conditions 1.The tools and concepts are in hand in sufficient quantity.2.There is avail
19、able a sufficient notation for the description of the business processes.3.There is also available in the combination of analytical and enumerative method and technique a means for exploring possible expectations and related commitments under varieties of specified contingent conditions.Opportunitie
20、s in Management Sciencev3 more things To test the fit of their assumptions and beliefs against appropriate descriptions of the flux of the events they must deal with To aid them in observing the changes in events that may require changes in their beliefs To increase their ability to understand,commu
21、nicate measure,plan and regulate to a degree not previously possible.Opportunities in Management ScienceManagement ScienceBusinessmenAidTake overOpportunities in Management ScienceSuccess of Management Science:recognize and acceptThe existence of human beings in a business and an economy,with their diversity of skills,values and objectives,and their making of riskful decisions comprise the very essence of the subject matter-not its imperfections.
