management

1) The running of an organization or part of it. Management has perhaps three main components: an organizational skill, an entrepreneurial sense, and an ability to get the best out of followers. The organizational skill, involving many traditional principles and techniques of management, is taught at colleges and business schools (see administrative management; scientific management); the entrepreneurial sense, recognizing and making use of opportunities, predicting market needs and trends, and achieving one's goals by sustained drive, skilful negotiation, and articulate advocacy, is not so easily taught, although contact with the market place in association with a successful entrepreneur will encourage an inherent ability to develop. The third component, the ability to motivate subordinates, has become an increasingly prominent part of management theory and training (see leadership style; leadership theory; motivation), although the extent to which such leadership skills can be taught in the abstract remains disputable. See also active management; change management; conflict management; diversity management; high-involvement management; human-resource management; salesforce management; supply-chain management; total quality management

2) The people involved in the running of an organization. Top management includes the chief executive (see also managing director) of an organization, his deputy or deputies, the board of directors, and the managers in charge of the divisions or departments of the organization. Middle management consists largely of the managers to whom top management delegates the day-to-day running of the organization. Management is traditionally broken down into the categories formalized in line and staff management: the line managers organize the production of the goods or oversee the services provided by the organization, while the staff management provides such support as personnel management, transport management, service management, etc.