Management – Forecasting the Future Cognitive Challenges in Management Science 3

This paper is the third publication from the series of three articles about cognitive challenges in management science. It is the result of the further discussions and reflections concerning the cognitive problems of management after publication of the books about epistemology of management. The paper is a trial to forecast the main cognitive trends and tendencies on the basis of the diagnosis made in two papers in series “Cognitive challenges in management science”. The chosen trends in development of management sciences are: expansion of natural sciences, growing inter-disciplinarity of research, growing specialization, net-marketing in management discourse, challenge of cultural relativism, growing criticism and reflexivity. Response of management sciences to the challenges connected to: interdisciplinary nature, growing specialization, and expansion of natural history can lead to further development of our discipline, but the possibility of disintegration also should not be ruled out. Deepening specialization, lack of long-range theory, and growing significance of natural history could lead to disintegration of our discipline, whose fields would be incorporated by other domains. I think that in order to avoid this possibility it would be desirable to uphold the cohesion of management sciences through deepening the cognitive reflection and openness to inspirations originating in other areas of science. But future is difficult to predict and maybe other trends that are not too visible now will change management sciences in future.