Management

Management means making sure that everything happens as and when it should. It also means making sure that people are doing their best. To make people work well, the company may offer incentives, like bonuses. In small companies, the owner probably organises everything, from start to finish. In larger companies, a management team divides up the work.

A large company will have managers, all with different jobs. They specialise in areas like design, product development, product research, work study, engineering, sales, marketing, finance, human resources (staffing, or personnel), quality assurance and production. All these managers report to a general manager, or managing director.

The most senior managers are the directors. They have personal responsibility for making sure that the company runs properly, stays in profit and follows the law.

Each department may have supervisors and section managers. These are trained and experienced people who are in charge of the work in their section, making sure that things go smoothly and everyone is working properly.

Most management jobs need specialised training and skills. The production manager, for instance, will probably by an engineer. The finance manager will probably be an accountant. The human resources director will probably have a personnel qualification. This means they could get a similar job with a completely different kind of company.