Management: Not Just a Science: Much, Much, Much More

The importance of science in management is of course, well documented.

Indeed, many of the world’s most successful organisations can count the use of science as integral to their success – particularly in the areas of business strategy, innovation and new ideas.

However, there is much more to management success than just the application of scientific theory.

The development and acceptance of some of the world’s most significant industrial breakthroughs have also relied on transforming customer habits and experiences.

For example, as well as being technically and scientifically advanced for their era, the invention of the railways, the automobile, and the telephone also contributed to massive behavioural and social change.

In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, business strategists and management experts Roger L Martin and Tony Golsby-Smith examine the nature of management in an effort to explain how some of the world’s most revolutionary developments came about.

They argue these breakthroughs occurred not only through scientific research and technology, but also by having a vision of the future and imagining products or processes that had simply never existed before.

In other words, they argue, success came not just through the use of data and scientific research, but also by applying something referred to by the Greek philosopher Aristotle as The Art of Rhetoric.

The Art of Rhetoric is a system of persuasion with three main drivers:

1. Ethos: the will and character to change the current situation

To be effective, the author of the narrative must possess credibility and authenticity

2. Logos: the logical structure of the argument

This must provide a rigorous case for transforming problems into possibilities; possibilities into ideas, and ideas into action

3. Pathos: the capacity to empathise

To be able to inspire movement on a large scale, the author must understand the audience.

 When a person or organisation uses these methods, it can lead to some incredible or totally unexpected results.

For example, the invention of the ‘hook-and-loop’ Velcro fastening system came about when a Swiss engineer was walking in the mountains and noticed the extraordinary adhesive qualities of the burrs that stuck to his clothing.

Martin and Golsby-Smith argue that when innovators create a ‘metaphor’ between two seemingly unrelated concepts (such as burrs and clothing fasteners); product innovations will often result.

However, they assert the real challenge is for people and organisations to be open to such vision and foresight.

In management as in any other area of our lives, good decision-making depends on many factors.

Martin and Golsby-Smith state that one good way for organisations to investigate new possibilities is to come up with three or four compelling narratives (each with a strong metaphor), and put them through a rigorous testing process to identify the best one.

Under normal conditions this would involve careful analysis of data - leading to the optimal decision.

However, when following the Art of Rhetoric, there is no data to analyse.

Instead of quantifying existing data, organisations can instead clarify the conditions they want and specify exactly what they think should happen in order for it to work.

This not only creates data - but can also give users something they have never seen before.

Lastly, by analysing the results (whether positive or negative), organisations can then adjust the prototype accordingly until a workable and successful scenario is achieved.

Of course, that is not to say the development of data analytics and the use of big data is not still hugely important in many areas, including management.

It is just that by using the Art of Rhetoric, there is so much more that can be visualised, and therefore achieved.