What is Management? An Introduction

Managing the management

In some organizations we observe that there is just one person performing all such functions and all the others are working according to his instructions with him. However, not all organizations are like this and some might involve hundreds and thousands of employees. In order to manage huge labour force and different other sources, we need more than one person to manage. That is why in large organizations we have number of managers. And because of this even the managers are needed to be managed.

To manage the managers and people working under each manager, managerial staff is divided into different layers where each layer defines the level of authority one layer has over the other.

This is what organizational chart also tells i.e. what different layers of management are there in an organization and how different managers are assigned different areas. By looking at the organizational chart it is really easy even for a person new to organization to understand who is responsible to report whom.

Layers of Management

In a broader perspective, there are three layers of management.

  1. Strategic
  2. Tactical
  3. Operational

Strategic Layer

Strategic managers are the ones which have the capability of taking such decisions that can turn whole course of an organization. It involves deciding about heavy investments, changing business objectives and many other crucial decisions. They also have the powers to appoint and terminate any manager working under them. They are the ones who make budgets and allocate resources among different managers.

Tactical Layer

Working as a shadow of strategic managers, tactical managers are responsible to carry out the tasks as planned by strategic managers and report back to them. The main responsibility of the managers of this level is to execute the plans through the managers at operational layer. So most of the time they work as intermediaries between upper layer and the lower layer of management. They divide one plan into number of plans for each department or manager working under them and make it more clearer and instruction based so that managers in lower layer are left with lesser confusions and discretion.

Operational Layer

Operational layer of management involves supervisors, line managers etc who are directly in connection with labour doing production. These managers get the instructions from managers in upper layers and implement them as instructed or demanded.