Management is ART!

1. What is an art?
A musician once said "Many musicians play music for a wrong purpose. Though I can afford many things thanks to playing music for people, it never has been my purpose of playing a music".

The mainstream definitions are:
Art is defined in many ways, regretfully mainly in its traditional sense that is visual
Art is a creation of a man.
An artist gets satisfaction out of his art.
Art delivers a message through an artistic expression.
Among many things made by human, things that can be classified as art could be the only ones that


2. Satisfaction, the meaning of the life
Constantly having a satisfaction from everyday life can make human’s life meaningful.
A satisfaction may come in 2 different forms: Real value and Philosophical value. Real value can be measured by monetary terms, whereas Philosophical value can’t be measured in monetary terms as it is hard to measure. Philosophical value prevails Real value as it is longer term and it often better defines the meaning of the personal life. By the time of the death human can’t bring his accumulated real values with him as these become obsolete on the last spot, but human life is instantly judged by his accumulated Philosophical values by himself at least. Moral philosopher Adam Smith asserted “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” This nature of human can be unique only in human and plays a role to determine his meaning of life. Thereby, it could be referred as that Philosophical value is more important over Real value.
In Business real value is expressed in P&L accounts, ROE and other profitability ratios and EPS.
Real value is destroyed as time goes by as in the case of house, cars or other things. It loses its importance in the minds of its owners as time passes by.
It is in the minds of the customers, as any institution were supposed to create a product, that determine the extent of the organization and the sense of achievement. No monetary value can determine the organization to be the best.


3. Institution - people - product
An institution is a team of 2 or more people with similar goal to deliver certain products to consumers as it is described in management textbooks.
People - Product - People is the simplest yet the most comprehensive description of an institution. Where a lifespan of a single person is limited, the lifespan of an institution is conventionally deemed to be unlimited.

Though not confirmed by empiric study, it is clear that majority of institutions started to having longer term visions and better social responsibility. The institution strives to create a value for 3 types of people: Shareholder, Staff and Customer. The point of mutual satisfaction of all these 3 is to create more philosophical value than the real value. /I am thinking marketing is just a play in balance, if this is true there will be an revolution/ So can we speculate "a product which could be considered or classified as an art could bring the institution to such a mutual satisfaction point???"

4. Management is what managers do!
The mission for the contemporary management is defined as “The management is to make 3 types of people satisfied”. This result oriented definition makes it easier to define the management itself. The 3 types of people are: 1. Shareholder, 2. Stakeholder or staff and 3. Customers; and order doesn’t imply importance.
Why make shareholders satisfied?
Basically, shareholders are the owners of the business. Owners generally have long term motivation to get involved in a business. Long term motivation is based on long term value generation. Long term value consists of long term real value and long term philosophical value.

Why make staff satisfied?
It is the staff, who is satisfied with his job, creates the most and turns his job place an innovative place. Also it is the manager’s pleasure to see his staff satisfied with the task. If life is all about constant satisfaction and positive feelings why staff should not be satisfied with his job, where 1/5 of his lifetime is devoted???

Why make customers satisfied?
As exactly as Adam Smith drew 200 years earlier, it must be great pleasure to see customers satisfied for owners, managers and staff alike, thus more philosophical value. More philosophically satisfied customers are more prone to products and services produced, thus increased profit and long term relations.

5. Why the best management can't be a technology?

Best management principles /cited from my management lecture first in 2004/
Although it can’t be defined precisely, success is the measure of business, henceforth management performance.
If management was to be regarded as a science, then the best technology should be sought. It is thereby supposed that a manager who obsessed the best technology outperforms the most. It is natural to seek the best management.
Principle 1: It is impossible to define the best technology, which can lead to the best management. The purpose of the management is to create value for stakeholders of the institute. The term value is vague that the definition changes as society changes. The reason for changing society is because of its individual member, a human. Human actions and reactions are controlled by his brain and it is impossible to model brain chemistry. If a human succeed to model his own brain actions and reactions, everything will be obsolete and it is impossible. Life will become meaningless. The motif is hope and unknown future.
Principle 2: The best technology and best management can only be seen afterwards. This is called result based definition. Which means that one can judge and select the best from past management practices by comparing different technologies. And this technology is already a history and does not mean it can prevail in the future. This is according to Principle 1.
Principle 3: Best management can be defined in a relative sense. A management that is maximizing its chances to get successful is the best management. The manager therefore be able to minimize bad odds and maximize her chances to be successful.

6. So...

There is no management theory could exist. Because management is the process of Human - Product - Human. Twice involvement of human in this process explains why management cant be based on a theory.


So, there could exist only outdated management technology.

A management art is seen during a process of creation of a new management technology.

The best management model could be:

Artist - Artwork - Art consumer.

A manager is the chief artist. Just like orchestra...