Professional Disciplines

“Disciplines evolve in differing ways and at differing rates. Although it is not clear if there are any consistent patterns of evolution across disciplines, stages of development can be classified within given disciplines. For instance, Bartels (1970) discusses the evolution within the field of marketing through periods of discovery, conceptualization, integration, development, reappraisal and re-conceptualization. As disciplines evolve, agreement is reached regarding the subject matter of interest. The relevant phenomena are described and classifications are produced. Attempts are made to discover underlying uniformities and patterns among the phenomena that comprise the subject matter. Classification enables researchers to reduce the vast number of possibilities regarding some phenomena in the natural world to properties that can be intelligently grasped and manipulated (Schindehutte, 2000, pp. 4-5).”