Administration and management are all about the internal workings of organisations, and the process of running them. Administrators and managers are found in almost all organisations, from healthcare organisations to local government, policing, business and beyond. They are also found in every size of organisation. There may be no dedicated personnel, but even one-person companies will have administrative tasks that need doing.

Administrators and managers therefore have what is known as generic skills: they can be applied in any sector and any organisation. This page describes some of these highly transferable skills, and what it takes to have a career involving administration or management.

Understanding Administration and Management

Both administration and management have been around for many years. For example, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s minister, was described as an administrator. The two are also very similar—but not precisely identical (see box).

The word administration is closely associated with government. We talk about ‘the administration’ meaning ‘the government of the day’. In the UK, civil servants are often described as professional administrators. This means that they are responsible for running the government on a day-to-day basis. However, it also has a wider meaning, around running an organisation more generally.

These days, apart from government, administrators are often at a fairly low level within the organisational hierarchy. Administrative jobs tend to be entry-level and often relatively low-paid. However, they are also essential to the organisation. Administrative jobs include personal assistants and secretaries, and receptionists.

Broadly speaking, we can consider administration as being about managing the internal processes of an organisation. Management, by contrast, is all about managing people or activities within the business.

Managers are therefore, almost by definition, not at the bottom level of the organisational hierarchy, or they would have nobody to manage. However, the term manager is also used for anyone managing an area of business as well as people: for example: customer service manager, marketing manager.

It is therefore fair to say that within government, everyone is an administrator, but only some are managers. In other organisations, there are fewer people who are considered administrators, but probably more managers.

There is a fair amount of overlap between administration and management. For example, an office manager job would probably be considered both.

It is also worth saying that few people decide that they want to be ‘a manager’. It is not precisely a career choice.

Instead, people tend to take on management roles as they gain more experience and become more senior. It is therefore possible to acquire management skills over time, and also to be ‘a manager’ (that is, to manage people as part of your job) but have a job title that does not necessarily include the word ‘manager’.

---

---

Skills Needed by Administrators and Managers

Administrators and managers both need some very similar generic skills. However, there are also some that are specific to managers in particular.

Both administrators and managers need:

• Excellent organisational skills to enable them to manage multiple tasks with different, often conflicting deadlines, coupled with good time management skills;

• An ability and willingness to use electronic tools to manage work, including calendars and other planning or reporting software;

• Good communication skills, both written and verbal, and including excellent listening skills;

• A strong ability to work with other people, including in teams and groups, because you cannot help an organisation to run effectively without working with people;

• A growth mindset, with a positive attitude about learning and developing your skills to match the specific job, and also to understand your environment (see box);

• Good customer service skills, because you may be responsible for working with external customers—but you are also likely to be asked to do things for other people within the organisation; and

• A willingness to get things done, and particularly to get stuck in and just do whatever is needed. Administrative jobs are often a catch-all for a wide range of tasks, both ongoing and one-off.

On top of these skills, anyone managing people also needs what we might broadly call management skills. These include:

• Recruitment skills, including interviewing and ‘onboarding’ or induction skills;

• Delegating work effectively to individuals and across a team;

• Motivating others to work, including through developing an environment that is conducive to this; and

• Managing performance, including giving feedback and the process of formally reviewing performance.

You may also be interested to read our page on Avoiding Common Managerial Mistakes.

---

An Accidental Career?

Few people set out to become ‘a manager’. Indeed, few actively want to become administrators. It is not exactly the most ‘sexy’ of career choices. However, administration is often the most basic, entry-level position available, and therefore a reasonable target for school leavers and graduates alike. A few years of experience can then lead to a managerial role, or perhaps an opportunity to move into a more specialist role. What’s more, the experience and skills gained in administration will remain useful in almost any career.

---