Similarities between office management and office administration?

Office managers, also called administrative service managers, are business professionals who are responsible for a diverse set of administrative tasks. Whether calculating payroll or hiring new employees, office managers must perform their duties with decisiveness and accuracy for a business to perform wel

An office administrator serves a team of people, keeping records of their vacation days, sickness, attendance and absence. He or she ensures that everyone knows how to claim expenses, get supplies and follow other office systems and protocols. Other duties include ordering stationery and making sure that maintenance is carried out on office equipment. They keep track of invoices, purchase orders and receipts and maintains the condition of the office. Frequently, the office administrator also acts as the personal assistant to the head of department.

The office manager is responsible for developing and implementing new administration systems, such as record management, and for reviewing and updating health and safety policies. He or she is likely to have a team of staff. They often manage, for example, the reception area, mail room and security personnel. Their role includes recruitment, training and induction of new staff and ensuring adequate cover at all times, using agencies for temporary staff when needed. Managing the booking of meeting rooms and availability of audio-visual equipment is also among their duties. As their job involves looking after the whole office, their budget is significantly larger than that of the office administrator. They may also have to write reports for senior management and deliver presentations on office efficiency.

For sorry, most of HR departments and managers can't know the difference between title like office manager , office admin, executive assistant and executive secretary.

Office manager the the top of the office support staff , he guides, share and participate the office policies.

office managers concerned with practical procedures and dealing with executives.

Office admin is employee how is concerned with paper work related to admin tasks

he-she ycan coordinate with  an ex.secretary.

Similarities between Management and Administration:

Authors like Chester Bernard, George R. Terry, Koontz and O’Donnell etc. do not distinguish between ‘management’ and ‘administration’. According to them, two terms are the same. The difference is not in their meaning, but in their application.

Administration and management are not performed by different people. Both administration and management are performed by managers at all levels – top, middle and low. While managers at the top perform more of administration, those at lower level perform more of management. In fact, management can be administrative management (that deals with laying down policies) and operative management (that deals with execution of policies).

Both administration and management involve the basic functions of planning, organising and controlling. The difference lies in their application rather than meaning. The term ‘administration’ is generally used in government organisations and ‘management’ is used in business organisations. Thus, different sets of people do not perform different sets of functions.

However, the relative importance of these functions varies at different levels. While policy formulation is done at higher levels, execution is done at lower levels. It is not really material whether policy formulation or execution is called administration or management. The controversy between the use of terms ‘administration’ and ‘management’ has almost disappeared as management institutes make no distinction between them.

Dissimilarities between Management and Administration:

Management theorists who consider management and administration as different hold two viewpoints. According to one viewpoint, administration is above management and management is part of administration and according to the other, management is above administration and administration is part of management.

i. Administration is above Management:

This view is advocated by the American authors viz, Oliver Sheldon, Spriegal, Theo Haimann, Mc Farland etc. According to them, administration is a higher level function of framing policies, plans, objectives, etc. and management is a lower level function that deals with implementation of the policies.

According to Oliver Sheldon, “Administration is concerned with the determination of corporate policy, the co-ordination of finance, production and distribution, the settlement of the compass of the organisation and the ultimate control of the executive. Management proper is concerned with the execution of policy, within the limits set up by administration and employment of the organisation in the particular objects set before it. Administration determines the organisation; management uses it. Administration defines the goal, management strives towards it.”

According to this viewpoint, thus, administration is a top-level function concerned with framing the organisational plans and policies. Management is a lower-level function concerned with implementation of plans framed by the top-level administrators. Administration deals with policy formulation and management deals with policy execution. Administration is, therefore, broad and conceptual and management is narrow and operational.

ii. Management is above Administration:

This viewpoint is advocated by the British authors, viz., Breech, Kimball and Kimball, Richman etc. This view is opposite to the one advocated by the American authors.

According to Breech, “Management is a social process entailing responsibility for the effective and economical planning and regulation of the operation of an enterprise in fulfillment of a given purpose or task. Administration is that part of management which is concerned with the installation and carrying out of the procedures by which the programme is laid down and communicated and the progress of activities is regulated and checked against plans”.

Thus, management is a top-level function concerned with framing organisational plans and policies. Administration is a lower-level function concerned with implementing the plans and policies.