"Management Science" and the Science of Management

Author(s): Wallace J. Hopp

Source: Management Science, Vol. 54, No. 12 (Dec., 2008), pp. 1961-1962
Published by: INFORMS
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30219137
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MANAGEMENT SCIENCE infEB.~
Vol. 54, No. 12, December 2008, pp. 1961-1962 DOI 10.1287/mnsc.1080.0960
IssN 0025-1909 EISSN 1526-5501 0815412 1961 a 2008 INFORMS

Management Science and the Science of Managemen

Wallace J. Hopp
Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, whopp@umich.edu

or over half a century, Management Science has promoted scientific research into the practice of manage-
ment. Because management is a vast and complex activity, early researchers tended to adopt a reductionist
approach by concentrating on narrow subproblems. As a result, the journal was initially dominated by studie
of tactical issues and quantitative solution techniques. But recent publication trends suggest that scholars are
turning their attention to broader, more realistic management issues, and are using a wider range of research
methods to address them. This is fueling a research renaissance that offers hope for significant progress toward
creation of a legitimate science of management.

facts galore. But no science, or at best a very feeble

With this issue, I complete a 12-year stint on the edi-
torial board of Management Science, 6 years as depart- one" (Churchman 1994, p. 104).
ment editor and 6 years as editor-in-chief. For the However, I believe this is changing. From my
perspective as editor, I see trends in management
most part, I have refrained from editorializing, since
I believe scientific progress is better served by pub-
research that have emerged clearly in the past decade
lishing the research of scholars than the opinionsand
of which, in my opinion, offer great hope for real
editors. But to maintain perspective, it makes sense
progress toward a legitimate science of management.
to reflect on general trends from time to time. Now,These are as follows:
as I put away my editor's pencil (actually, archive my1. Strategic Focus: From the beginning of the journal
old electronic documents), this seems like one of those
through the 1980s, the demand for mathematical rigor
times. motivated scholars to concentrate on compact tactical
When I came on board as editor-in-chief in Jan- issues, such as scheduling, inventory control, equip-
uary 2003, I dedicated my agenda (Hopp 2003) to ment maintenance, etc. Although such matters are of
the original goal of founding editor West Church- interest to engineers and middle managers, they are
man that "a science of management will stand as a not central to the concerns of senior management. So,
legitimate and recognized field of scientific endeavor" in the 1990s, researchers began to aim higher at ques-
(Churchman 1955, p. 187). In 2004, as part of our 50th tions of strategy. For instance, rather than seeking to
anniversary celebration, the senior members of the optimize stocking parameters for a narrowly defined
editorial board looked back over the first half century inventory system, scholars turned to problems of how
of publications in Management Science and assessed products and supply chains should be structured to
the evolution of research in the various management better match supply with demand. Similarly, rather
subfields (see Hopp 2004 and monthly retrospec- than seeing facility location decisions solely as oppor-
tive articles published in each issue of Volume 50). tunities to optimize logistics costs, scholars began to
At the risk of overgeneralizing, I would character- view them also as a means for forging strategic part-
ize this assessment as evidence that scholars in the nerships and evolving new capabilities. These and
many other examples indicate that our research com-
Management Science community initially tended heav-
ily toward a reductionist approach to management munity is addressing more important and more real-
istic management questions than ever before.
research. That is, rather than focusing on observation
2. Interdisciplinary Perspective: As scholars have
and classification, as is normally done in immature
fields, they concentrated on very specific problems in
broadened their focus from tactics to strategy, they
have had to seek out a wider range of research
order to achieve the mathematical tractability so heav-
tools. For example, game theory models from eco-
ily prized in operations research. While this produced
many important methodological tools and solutions nomics have now permeated almost all management
to specific problems, it left us with a patchworksubfields,
of including marketing, operations, strategy,
results that was both unsatisfactory as a science organizational
and management, and information sys-
relatively distant from the practice of management.
tems. Consumer choice models have migrated beyond
This led Churchman to despair on the occasion ofmarketing
the to information systems, operations man-
40th anniversary that "What we have now are facts,agement, product development, and other subfields.
1961

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 Hopp: Management Science and the Science of Management
1962 Management Science 54(12), pp. 1961-1962, a2008 INFORMS

Principle agent and social network models

Theare also of this renaissance in management
character
being adopted by a wide range of management schol-
research owes a great deal to the many people who
ars. This sharing of tools is blurring the distinction
routinely volunteer their time and expertise to make
between the management subfields, to the benefit Science
Management of run. So it is only fitting that I close
an overall science of management. my comments and my term by thanking them.
3. Realistic Human Behavior: The emergingFirst,
focusI am
onin constant awe of the dedication shown
broader, more realistic management problems has put
by department editors, associate editors, and refer-
human behavior into high relief as a key ees,research
who carefully screen submissions, check results,
issue. In the simplistic models of former and decades, it
help authors maximize the contribution of their
may have been reasonable to view humanspapers. as robotic
The tiny acknowledgements they receive from
optimizers. But in current research frameworks time to time itin print do not begin to compensate these
is often essential to recognize that people are irra-
people for their enormous contributions to the jour-
tional, emotional, and changeable. Consequently, nal and to the wefield. So their ultimate reward must
are seeing more and more efforts to incorporate real-
be the satisfaction in knowing that they have played
istic human behavior into management models. This
vital roles in the evolution of the science of manage-
includes (but is not restricted to) modeling ment. Butin
trust I nonetheless offer my humble and sincere
supply chains, exploring and extending prospect thanks tothe-
all of the members of the Management Sci-
ory in decision analysis, using networks toence character-
editorial board and review corps.
ize organizational communication and collaboration, Second, I offer my heartfelt appreciation to the
and many more. Management Science has exceptionally a tradition professional INFORMS staff for all their
of publishing innovative work on mathematical supportmod-
and guidance. We are indeed fortunate to
els of human behavior before it was considered partof skilled professionals, including Direc-
have a team
of mainstream economics (see, e.g., the game tor oftheory
Publications Patricia Shaffer, Journal Produc-
work of Nobel Laureate John Harsanyi 1967). For all
tion Manager Miranda Walker, Chief Publishing Tech-
we know, some of these new efforts to understand
nologist Mirko Janc, Senior Production Editor Candi
human behavior in complex management situations
Gerzevitz, and Director of Technology Services Randy
will form the basis of a future Nobel Prize.
Kiefer, whose work behind the scenes make this won-
4. Empirical Research: While empirical analysis has
derfully effective and attractive publication possible.
long been a part of management subfields like organi-
In particular, I and all members of the Management
zational behavior and marketing, it has only recently
Science community owe a huge debt of gratitude
emerged as a mainstream activity in other subfields, to Production Editors Midori Baer-Price and Kim
such as operations management and new product
Anoweck, who did an incredible job of transforming
development. Because observation is an essential step
manuscripts into issues, in spite of the heavy load of
in the scientific method, I take this as a very promis-
a monthly publication and the constant technologi
ing departure from the nearly exclusive emphasis
cal change inherent in the transition from paper to
on analytical modeling in the 1970s and 1980s. The
electronics.
empirical work that has appeared in recent volumes
Finally, the person I relied on most of all and whom
of Management Science has drawn research closer to
I will miss most of all is Managing Editor Betty Martin.
practice (e.g., studying the consequences of inaccurate
For those of you who never met her, yes, she really
inventory records in retail systems). It is also open-
does exist, and yes, she really is that good. Her legacy
ing up a wide range of future research opportuni-
ties (e.g., managing inventory in the face of customer managerial efficiency with a human touch embod-
of
substitution behavior, pricing when consumers are ies the essence of Management Science.
boundedly rational, designing contracts that account
for social behaviors, etc.). If future analytic research
References
builds on the empirical results that are now appear-
ing, the study of management will finally begin to Churchman, C. W. 1955. Management Science, the journal. Manage-
ment Science 1(2) 187-188.
evolve according to a legitimate scientific process.
Churchman, C. W. 1994. Management Science: Science of managing
Taken together, these trends represent an exciting and managing of science. Interfaces 24(4) 99-110.
blossoming of management research. Although we Harsanyi, J. C. 1967. Games with incomplete information played
still have a long way to go, we have never been on by "Bayesian" players, I-III. Management Science 14(3) 159-182.
a better path toward a science of management thanHopp, W. J. 2003. From the editor. Management Science 49(1) v-vii.
we are right now. It has been a privilege for me to
Hopp, W. J. 2004. Fifty years of Management Science. Management
participate in part of the journey. Science 50(1) 1-7.

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