I spent three years working at one of the worlds largest marketing consultancies; in that time the one word I grew to loathe above all others was “Methodology”.
For example:
- “Our unique and proprietary marketing methodology puts us way ahead of the other marketing consultancies.”
- “Viral Marketing sounds like a great idea… can you go away and develop a methodology for selling it?”
In business, ‘Methodology’ used as a pretentious substitute for the word ‘Method’. Most marketing consultants think that the addition of an ‘-ology’ makes their half thought out processes sound a little more scientific. This gives them the ability to charge twice as much for it. It’s the worst kind of corporate bullshit.
Actually, "Methodology" and "Method" refer to quite different concepts;
Methodology should mean the theoretical analysis of the methods and principles that underlie a particular field of knowledge. A methodology is not so much the tools of business and investigation (methods), but the principles that govern their application.
Personally, given that I found myself working in a business that would happily use the word "philosophy" to describe attitude, disposition or at a real stretch, beliefs I had just sort of given up on the idea that linguistic precision (reflecting disciplined and rigourous thinking) would find any sympathy or a place of value.