Present positions and future prospects in management science

This paper offers some thoughts on the present state of management science as a discipline and a profession, and considers possible developmental strategies. The growth of management science, and the optimism this engendered, was largely premised on the successful use of scientific methodology and quantitative techniques to solve a relatively narrow range of management problems. In the 1970s, however, this positivist/quantitative ‘traditional management science’ became subject to increasing critical assault from those who wanted to broaden the impact of the discipline. Alternative management science approaches were born—soft systems thinking, organisational cybernetics, critical management science—and succeeded in establishing themselves. The existence of these alternative strands of work, alongside traditional management science, raises important questions about the future development of the discipline and profession. In this paper four developmental possibilities are set down and examined to see what future prospects they hold out for management science. It is argued that three of these—the isolationist, imperialist and pragmatist strategies—would lead the discipline into a dead end. A pluralist option, however, offers excellent opportunities for successful, future development.