Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a non-profit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities of setting the strategy of an organization and coordinating the efforts of its employees (or of volunteers) to accomplish its objectives through the application of available resources, such as financial, natural, technological, and human resources. “Run the business”[1] and “Change the business” are two concepts that are used in management to differentiate between the continued delivery of goods or services and adapting of goods or services to meet the changing needs of customers – see trend. The term “management” may also refer to those people who manage an organization—managers.
Some people study management at colleges or universities; major degrees in management includes the Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.), Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA.), Master of Business Administration (MBA.), Master in Management (MSM or MIM) and, for the public sector, the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree. Individuals who aim to become management specialists or experts, management researchers, or professors may complete the Doctor of Management (DM), the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), or the PhD in Business Administration or Management. In the past few decades, there has been a movement for evidence-based management.
Larger organizations generally have three hierarchical levels of managers, in a pyramid structure:
- Senior managers such as members of a board of directors and a chief executive officer (CEO) or a president of an organization sets the strategic goals of the organization and make decisions on how the overall organization will operate. Senior managers are generally executive-level professionals who provide direction to middle management, and directly or indirectly report to them.
- Middle managers such as branch managers, regional managers, department managers, and section managers, who provide direction to the front-line managers. They communicate the strategic goals of senior management to the front-line managers.
- Line managers such as supervisors and front-line team leaders, oversee the work of regular employees (or volunteers, in some voluntary organizations) and provide direction on their work. Line managers often perform the traditional functions of management. They are usually considered part of the workforce and not a proper part of the organization’s management.
In smaller organizations, a manager may have a much wider scope and may perform several roles or even all of the roles commonly observed in a large organization.
Social scientists study management as an academic discipline, investigating areas such as social organization, organizational adaptation, and organizational leadership.
