Is management a science? Epistemological considerations about its scientificity

Abstract

This epistemological study aims to expose and discuss the issue of management scientificity. This discussion has been held in other studies, without being, however, like this study, conducted through an epistemological criteria analysis of the philosophers Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos. On the basis of epistemological analysis, can be concluded: that management, as a theory of knowledge, can be considered science, which arises from the possibility of distorting the studies in this area as sophisticated falsification of Popper, that management meets the assumption science paradigm of Kuhn, although there was no consensus on what stage fits the mold research programs presented by Lakatos. It is known that management still has a long way to go in quest to expand its methodological rigor and mature, but dismissing it as a science, and does not help with the ripening, it undercuts a wide range of social actors – organizations – which are not the main object of study of other sciences.