Administration and Levels of Management

Management refers to the process of working with and through others to effectively achieve the goals of an organisation. Administration refers to the process of implementing the basic principles of an organisation. Management aims to accomplish the objectives laid down by administration; hence, administration is a higher level activity whereas management is a lower level activity. Administration involves decision making and policy formulation, while management deals with directing, coordinating and controlling of activities.
Every organisation has a management hierarchy from top to bottom which in general is known as levels of management. Three different levels of management:
•    Top management which ensures welfare and survival of the enterprise,
•    Middle level management which reviews activities of the first line managers and
•    Operational level management which maintains safety standards.
Branches of management:
•    Production management aims at managing an enterprise’s production function so as to produce.
•    Marketing management aims at managing enterprise’s marketing function so as to facilitate transfer of goods and services from producers to consumers.
•    Financial management aims at managing an enterprise’s finance function to ensure availability of funds for business.
•    Personnel management aims at planning, organising and controlling human resources of an organisation for recruitment, selection, training, development, wage and salary, appraisal and compensation and allowance of employees.
•    Purchasing management aims at purchasing right quantity and quality of materials from the right source at right time.
•    Office management aims at planning, coordinating and controlling office activities . An office serves as the nerve centre of business activities.
Today modern organisations are called as global organisations, whose managers are required to have global perspective like diverse combination of technical skills, management and people skills and ability to imbibe and learn different cultural experiences.