Posted by Chester Morton / Wednesday, 26 April 2017 / No comments
The levels of management
Top Level of Management
Top management is made up of board of directors, chief executive or managing director. Top management is the highest level of authority from where the company’s policies are formulated and managed with the aim to achieve the company’s goals. Top management devotes the greater part of its time performing planning and coordinating functions.
The following are some of the roles of top management:
a. Top management is responsible for laying down organization’s objective and formulating the policies of the company.
b. Top management gives necessary instruction on how budgets are prepared for the various departments within the organization, and specifies the schedule to be followed etc.
c. It formulate the company’s strategy and set out its implementation steps.
d. Top management also plays the key role of appointing department heads or managers and controls, coordinates activities of all departments within the company.
e. Top management further acts to establish and maintain contact with relevant bodies outside the organization.
f. The top management is also responsible to shareholders of the company in ensuring that the organization performs.
Middle Level of Management
Middle level management refers to managers of company’s branches and department. These managers are responsible for ensuring that the departments and branches under their control functions properly. Middle level management’s main work involves performing the organizing and directing functions of management. In small organization, there is often only one layer of middle level of management but in big enterprises, the middle level management could be sub-divided into senior and junior middle level management.
Below are some of the key roles of middle management-
a. They carry out and execute the plans of the company in line with the policies and directives proposed by top management.
b. They plan for the department or branch of the company under their management. However these plans must be within the broad plans put forth by top management.
c. They take active part in recruitment, training and development of lower level management.
d. They are responsible for explaining company policies formed by top level management to lower level management.
e. They coordinate activities in the division or department over which they preside over.
f. Middle level management also conveys important information, and reports both from within their sub-units as well as from lower management level to top level management.
g. They carry out performance evaluating of junior managers.
Lower Level of Management
Lower level is sometimes called supervisory or operative level of management. It is made up of supervisors, foreman, section officers, superintendent etc. According to R.C. Davis, “Supervisory management refers to those executives whose work has to be largely with personal oversight and direction of operative employees”. Lower level management’s is principally concerned with directing and controlling functions of management.
Lower level management’s role includes:
a. Assigning work packages and tasks to the workers.
b. Guiding and instructing employees in their day-to-day activities.
c. Lower Management is responsible for ensuring that quality products are produced and in the targeted quantity by the company.
d. They are entrusted with communicating workers’ problems, suggestions, and recommendatory as well as their appeals to higher level and transmit goals and objectives of higher level to the workers under their authority.
e. Lower level management assist in resolving conflicts and grievances of employees under their authority.
f. They supervise, guide and train the sub-ordinates.
g. They are responsible for maintaining materials, machines, tools needed to get work done ; and prepares periodic reports on employees’ performance at their level to middle and top management.
h. They motivate, discipline and communicate the company’s image to workers by virtue of being in direct contact with the workers.
