Cross-disciplinary Perspectives

Anthropology – Anthropology is the study of societies, which helps us learn about human beings and their
activities. Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments, for instance, has helped managers to better
understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviour between people in different countries and
within different organisations.

Economics – Economics is concerned with the allocation and distribution of scarce resources. It provides us
with an understanding of the changing economy as well as the role of competition and free markets in a global
context. An understanding of free trade and protectionist policies is absolutely essential to any manager
operating in the global marketplace, and these topics are addressed by economists.

Philosophy – Philosophy courses inquire into the nature of things, particularly values and ethics. Ethics are
standards that govern human conduct. These ethics have shaped today’s organisations by providing a basis for
legitimate authority, linking rewards to performance, and justifying the existence of business and the corporate
form.

Political Science – Political science is the study of the behavior of individuals and groups within a political
environment. Management is affected by a nation’s form of government – by whether it allows its citizens to
hold property, by its citizens’ ability to engage in and enforce contracts, and by the appeal mechanisms available
to redress grievances. A nation’s stand on property, contracts, and justice, in turn, shapes the type, form, and
policies of its organisations.

Psychology – Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behaviour of
humans and other animals. Today’s managers confront both a diverse customer base and a diverse set of
employees. Psychologists’ efforts to understand gender and cultural diversity provide managers with a better
perception of the needs of their changing customer and employee populations. Psychology courses are also
relevant to managers in terms of gaining a better understanding of motivation, leadership, trust, employee
selection, performance appraisals, and training techniques.

Sociology – Sociology is the study of people in relation to their fellow human beings. What are some of the
sociological issues that have relevance to managers? Here are a few. How are societal changes such as
globalisation, increasing cultural diversity, changing gender roles, and varying forms of family life affecting
organisational practices? What are the implications of schooling practices and education trends on future
employees’ skills and abilities? Answers to questions such as these have a major effect on how managers
operate their businesses.
Cross-disciplinary perspective: “A discipline is a particular area of study, especially a subject
of study in a college or university” (“academic discipline”, n.d.). Interdisciplinarity or the
interdisciplinary approach involves the merging of two or more academic disciplines for one
purpose or activity like a research project. It draws knowledge from several fields of study,
for example, sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics etc. It is about creating
knowledge by thinking across the boundaries of different disciplines. The adjective cross-
disciplinary is mainly used in academia when researchers from different disciplines combine
their approaches and modify them so that they are better suited to solve the problem at
hand.

Advantages of the cross-disciplinary perspective

Cross-disciplinary knowledge and research are important because it encourages creativity

and promotes important contributions in fields other than one’s own expertise. In addition
to creativity, it also enhances critical thinking skills to compare and contrast perspectives
from various disciplines. It also allows for fewer errors as it can be verified by experts from
various fields. Many social problems require cross-disciplinary approaches to come up with
practical solutions. Understanding and analysing tasks, data sets and concepts through the
lenses of more than one discipline can help individuals in gaining insight on how a project
might apply in various settings. It also helps students apply the knowledge gained in one
discipline to or different discipline in order to deepen their learning experience and
encourages the pursuit of knowledge in many areas. As one engages with topics from many
different perspectives, it also helps them overcome their preconceived notions around a
subject and recognise their biases. This also encourages them to understand the complexity
of certain topics and allow for ambiguity in information coming from many different
perspectives. Information that is acquired in a holistic manner can also be easily connected
with previous knowledge and can be recalled much faster. Interdisciplinarity also gives
researchers greater flexibility in research and related topics. Cross-disciplinarians can also
help to breach communication gaps in modern academia, and therefore help to mobilize
vast amounts of intellectual resources. The cross-disciplinary perspective allows
professionals to see the effect of what they do outside of their own fields as well.

Disadvantages

However, there are certain pitfalls to cross-disciplinary approaches.

Interdisciplinarity creates a risk of weaker; critical disciplines being dissolved and pushed
under a more established and powerful discipline in the hierarchy. It can become the basis
for narrowing rather than widening of perspectives, it can have the effect of dissolving the
very “discipline” required for any serious scholarship or science. It is also to be understood
that practical disadvantages to creating a unified discipline that is all-encompassing. This can
lead to budgetary restrictions, downgrading of departments, and sometimes their
dissolution in universities and research centres. It will lead to experts from different but
closely related fields having to compete for resources in universities. The academic system is
still quite structured on specific majors as disciplines and the integration of cross-disciplinary
studies have caused disruptions to the traditional fields of study. Researchers from different
disciplines also have different methodologies and integrating research can be challenging.
Another disadvantage to the cross-disciplinary approach is that it can get too meta-
theoretical and not address real-life problems like the research was supposed to. This
defeats the original purpose of exploring different perspectives to solve actual problems.

Practical applications of the cross-disciplinary perspective

Despite the disadvantages, interdisciplinarity is crucial to many fields, especially social

sciences. For example, psychology is a field where cross-disciplinary research is extremely
popular. Research around artificial intelligence involves collaboration between cognitive
psychology, computer sciences, robotics, machine learning etc. Other fields of
interdisciplinarity include biology, neurosciences, sociology etc. These are important to
understand the basis of psychopathology in terms of the impact on the brain, the effect of
neurotransmitters, genetics etc. It is also important to understand the role that socio-
economic and cultural backgrounds play in a person’s mental health. Different major health
issues faced by society are quite complex and require research from multiple sciences. For
example, issues like obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, and violence and aggression.
Such problems necessitate the use of cross-disciplinary research in order to reach holistic
solutions.

One historic example of how research in one field has greatly influenced the basis of the
study of another discipline can be found in the work of Nobel laureate Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov
received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “in recognition of his work on the
physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject have been
transformed and enlarged” (Nobel Foundation, 1904). While Pavlov was conducting
research on the digestive system of dogs, he noticed that the dogs drooled upon just the
sight of the white lab coat of those coming to feed it. He termed the drooling at the sign of
food as a normal ‘unconditioned response’, which was then paired to another stimulus and
elicited the same response to an unrelated stimulus, now termed a ‘conditioned stimulus’.
This experiment was instrumental in formulating the principle of “conditioning” in the form
of objective, verifiable and scientific studies. Although his initial research focused on the
ways in which eating triggered salivary, gastric, and pancreatic secretions, the findings of the
experiment formed the basis of behaviourism.

Another important example of interdisciplinarity is modern biological research and its heavy
reliance on the use computers. This new reality has led to the emergence of a discipline that
combines both biology and computer science called bioinformatics (National Research
Council, 2005). Bioinformatics takes a computer science perspective in developing new
methods and techniques for analysing of the vast amounts of data that result from
biological research, especially in fields like genomics and proteomics. Bioinformatics draws
heavily on methods that were used by an older field, called clinical or medical informatics.
However, current education in bioinformatics includes both clinical and biological
applications of data analysis (National Research Council, 2005). 

A cross-disciplinary field that studies decision-making has emerged in recent years. Its
importance is apparent in organisations like the Society for Judgment and Decision-making
and another related organisation that focuses on health care, the Society for Medical
Decision-making (National Research Council, 2005). Scientists and researchers in this field
come from economics, sociology, psychology, business, law, statistics, medicine,
anthropology, and many other related fields. They are concerned with the different facets of
decision-making in the real world. This includes studying normative decisions which are the
optimal outcomes and actual decisions made by people. There is often a huge gap between
the two decisions, and bridging this gap can provide solutions to many problems and be
crucial to society and health care.

A similar new cross-disciplinary field in the social sciences that combines political science,
sociology, public policy, economics, business, environmental sciences and psychology looks
into rational decision-making and resource management within societies. The discipline
includes subfields such as ecological economics, urban and rural affairs, resource
management, and other similar policy related fields (National Research Council, 2005).

There are many useful avenues for cross-disciplinary study and research that are being
explored across universities and research departments.

References:

Appleby, M. (2019). What are the benefits of interdisciplinary study? OpenLearn

Retrieved 30 June 2021, from https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/what-are-the-

benefits-interdisciplinary-study

Burawoy, M. (2013). Sociology and interdisciplinarity: The promise and the perils. Philippine
Sociological Review, 61(1), 7-19. Retrieved June 30, 2021, from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43486352

Jones, Casey (2009) “Interdisciplinary Approach – Advantages, Disadvantages, and the

Future Benefits of Interdisciplinary Studies,” ESSAI, 26(7). Retrieved June 30, 2021, from
http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol7/iss1/26

National Research Council (US) Committee for Monitoring the Nation’s Changing Needs for
Biomedical, Behavioural, and Clinical Personnel. (2005). Advancing the Nation’s Health
Needs: NIH Research Training Programs. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).
Ch.8, Emerging Fields and Interdisciplinary Studies. Retrieved from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22616/

Nissani, M. (1995). Fruits, Salads, and Smoothies: A Working Definition of

Interdisciplinarity. The Journal of Educational Thought (JET) / Revue De La Pensée
Éducative, 29(2), 121-128. Retrieved June 30, 2021,
from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23767672
Specter, M. (2017). Drool. Retrieved 15 July 2021, from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/drool

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904. NobelPrize.org. Retrived 15 Jul 202,1 from
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1904/summary/