Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 23 Issue 1

Administration: Science, Art or Technique? A Reflective Look at the Epistemological Status of the Administration 52 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXIII Issue I Version I Year 2023 ( ) A © 2023 Global Journals depending on the theoretical framework used as a reference or basis). The administration is constituted by a set of procedures, which are validated by knowledge and experience of the general or particular application. These procedures and resources modeled by the profession of administrator require constant exercise to acquire greater expertise and the ability to use them to solve practical problems. The technique is not different from art or science in its most general sense from a philosophical perspective or from any procedure or operation capable of achieving any effect, being its field as extensive as that of all human activities (Abbagnano, 1951), which continues with the approach of the following adjective attributed to the administration, from the relative perspective, that of art. Before addressing the notion of art, it is necessary to clarify the understanding of administration as a social discipline, as long as it is conceived from a relative thought system, which admits the subjective or intersubjective but has scientific criteria (Mendoza, 2018) because it has a set of systematically organized knowledge, which derive on the classical principles of administration. Taylor's 4 and 14 fundamental principles are an example of the application of the administrative process. In addition, it has a defined object of study, the organization. Its theoretical and methodological foundations are raised in a series of theoretical postulates (administration approaches), which are applicable to the general reality demonstrating to be reliable and likely to acquire a unitary character over time (Mendoza, 2018). To address the notion of administration as art, it is necessary to take Plato's postulates as a primary reference. Plato establishes that art corresponds to all ordered human activity (including science) that exercises dominance over knowledge, divided between judiciary art and dispositive or imperative art. The first consists simply in knowing and the second one refers to directing based on knowledge of a certain activity. Regardless of the consequent considerations that emerged around the notion of art, associated only with aesthetics (philosophy of art and beauty) called or conceived as liberal, it is also relative to the intuitive, sensitive or creative. It is possible to rescue the productive, mechanical, manual, or servile nature of the imperative art that over time appears associated with the notion of technique, as a term with a broad meaning that designates all the normative procedures that result from its work in any field (ibid.). It is precisely from this intuitive or subjective perspective that the notion of administration as art emerges in authors such as Drucker (1989), who proposed administration as a liberal art, which integrates knowledge with practice and application. Mintzberg (2000). Plus, he considered it in the sense of the trade, due to the intuitive judgment of the administrator. Therefore, this perception provides the administration with more to do with doing and then thinking than with thinking and then doing. Meanwhile, Mendoza (2018), states that the administration rescues the need to use creativity in solving problems that prevent the progress of the proposed strategies and objectives. So, the character of art is also presented by selecting simple, harmonious, and integrating solutions. The administration is conceived as an art and, it is characterized by having virtue, disposition, and personality to build a favorable scenario in an organization with varied and complex attributes that can be considered due to their nature as epistemic obstacles. IV. O f the E pistemic O bstacles of A dministration There are a series of distinctive features of the administrative phenomenon that are considered to have acted as epistemic obstacles. These are elements that are difficult to integrate or even address as a unit, especially when learning about or apprehending the administrative phenomenon. Therefore, the complexity term appears in the equation and it becomes the most suitable category to characterize the diversity or multiplicity of the administrative discipline. As a complex phenomenon composed of various elements, it should be noted. First, there is the diversity of its general object of study, the organization, due to its normative nature (legal), as well as its field of action (goods or services); its orientation, either towards tasks (a division of work, structure, operation, techniques or procedures, etc.) or towards relationships (with emphasis on psychological and sociological aspects inherent to the workforce that makes up an organization). Resulting in the presence of normativism in organizational functioning, which can be considered an unbreakable principle. The foregoing in the sense of the prevalence or inclination towards compliance with the norm conceived as a kind of instruction to follow or respect, which may not necessarily be consistent with the context of action, taking into account not only the fact that the Legal frameworks, whatever their level within the Kelsen pyramid, must be updated, but also due to the flexible or dynamic nature of the (human) elements that participate in the administrative task. Under this premise appears the subordination of the organization and the administrative processes to the ideological is highlighted, based on the legitimization of domination and subordination as a form of exercise of power in organizations, obedience that depends on the set of ideas that guides to the system of administrative thought and base the action of the