Differences Between Management & Administration
Introduction
It has been argued before that there is really a thin line between administration and management. Indeed both terminologies have been used in many occasions interchangeably. Our mandate in this paper therefore is to outline the existing differences between administration and management.
Rosenbloom (1986) focuses at public forums to bring out the meaning of administration. He argues that, public administration is the use of management processes, theories and practices to fulfill a given mandate and thus providing services to the society or part of it. Ott et-al (1991) on the other hand sees public management as a branch of a larger field of public administration that runs the public affair. Public management therefore entails the art and science of recruiting, planning and allocation of budgets to achieve an objective.
From the above brief introduction, we can simply put our argument that, administration is the mother of management. We have looked at different elements to bring out these differences between administration and management. These elements include; level of authority, functions, nature of status, decision making, abilities/skills and applicability.
Level of Authority
Administration personnel include the top level people in the organization. These are usually the owners and the board of trusties. Management on the other hand includes the middle level people, usually employees who supervise the running of an organization.
Functions
Administration is involved in the determination of larger goals and objectives. Administrators therefore determine major policies of an organization and guides on the general direction that the organization should take in conducting its day to day activities. Administrators look at what the organization requires. Managers on the other hand are greatly involved in the putting in to action the policies and plans that are laid down by the administrators. In other words, the managers execute the predetermined
It has been argued before that there is really a thin line between administration and management. Indeed both terminologies have been used in many occasions interchangeably. Our mandate in this paper therefore is to outline the existing differences between administration and management.
Rosenbloom (1986) focuses at public forums to bring out the meaning of administration. He argues that, public administration is the use of management processes, theories and practices to fulfill a given mandate and thus providing services to the society or part of it. Ott et-al (1991) on the other hand sees public management as a branch of a larger field of public administration that runs the public affair. Public management therefore entails the art and science of recruiting, planning and allocation of budgets to achieve an objective.
From the above brief introduction, we can simply put our argument that, administration is the mother of management. We have looked at different elements to bring out these differences between administration and management. These elements include; level of authority, functions, nature of status, decision making, abilities/skills and applicability.
Level of Authority
Administration personnel include the top level people in the organization. These are usually the owners and the board of trusties. Management on the other hand includes the middle level people, usually employees who supervise the running of an organization.
Functions
Administration is involved in the determination of larger goals and objectives. Administrators therefore determine major policies of an organization and guides on the general direction that the organization should take in conducting its day to day activities. Administrators look at what the organization requires. Managers on the other hand are greatly involved in the putting in to action the policies and plans that are laid down by the administrators. In other words, the managers execute the predetermined
References: Ott J. Steven, Hyde, Albert C. and Shefritz, Jay M. (edd) (1991), Public Mangement. The essential reading (Chicago. Lyceum Books/Nelson-Hall). Rosenbloom, David (1986), Public Adminstration, Understanding Mangement, politics and Law in the Public Sector. (New York:Random House) Stoner, Freeman & Gilbert (2000), Management. New Delhi: Prentice Hall.