Levels of Management – Top, Middle and Lower Level
There are three levels of management
Levels of management
Management is a universal term used to refer to the performance of certain functions in an enterprise through a set of relationships between people who are related to each other. Everyone has a responsibility to accomplish some particular task in this chain of relationships.
To fulfil this responsibility, he is given certain rights i.e. the right to make decisions. This relation of authority and responsibility binds individuals to each other as officers and subordinates. This leads to the creation of different levels in the organisation. There are three levels in the authority chain of an organization-
(1) Top Level Management
These are the senior-most executive officers of the organization who are called by many names. They are commonly known by the names of Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Principal, Vice President, etc.
Top management is a team of managers at different functional levels. Their basic function is to establish unity among the various elements and harmony in the work of different departments keeping in mind the overall objectives of the organization. The Top level management is responsible for the welfare and continuity of the organisation.
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They analyze the business environment and its impact on the life of the firm. They prepare the goals and strategy of the new organization for their achievement. They are responsible for all the activities of the business and their impact on society. The work of top management is complex and stressful. If it takes a long time, then full commitment to the organization is required.
(2) Middle Level Management
They are the link between the top management and the lower level management, they are subordinate to the top managers and the head of the first-line managers. These are commonly called department heads, operations managers, or plant superintendents.
Middle-level managers are responsible for the implementation of control plans and strategies developed by the higher management. In addition, they are responsible for all the actions of the top-level(first-line) managers. Their main function is to carry out the plans prepared by the top-level managers. For this
(a) They explain the plan made by the top managers,
(b) They ensure an adequate number of employees for their department,
(c) They assign their necessary tasks and responsibilities,
(d) They cooperate with other departments to achieve the desired objectives. In addition, they are responsible for the actions of the first-line managers.
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(3) Lower Level Management
The foreman and supervisor come at a lower level in the authority line of the organization. Supervisors directly oversee the work of the workforce. Their rights and duties are determined by the plans made by the higher managers.
Supervision, managers have an important role in the organization as they communicate directly with the actual workforce and convey the guidelines of middle-level managers to the employees. It is through these efforts that the quality of the product is maintained, the loss of goods is kept to a minimum and the level of safety is maintained. The quality of workmanship, and the quality of production, depend only on the hard work, discipline, and devotion of the employees.
