Levels of Management

Session 2
• . Top-level Management
• Top-level Management consists of the senior-most executives and decision-makers in an organization. Every member of
the top Management is responsible for the direction and growth of the company. Sound top-level management in a
company basically defines the success and future of a company.
• All the C-level executives and some other designations fall under this category. To name a few, some of the top-level
designations are –
• • Chief Executive Officer
• • Chief Marketing Officer
• • Chief Sales Officer
• • Chief Technology Officer
• • President
• • Managing Director
• • Vice-president
• • Chief Operating Officer
• • And a few other designations
• 2. Middle-level Management
• Middle-level Management consists of the heads of various departments in an organization. These
executives are responsible for communication between top-level Management and the lower level of
Management. They handle most of the executions and micro-management within an organization.
• Some of the standard designation titles of mid-level management executives are –
• • Marketing Manager
• • Purchase Head
• • Sales Manager
• • Operations Manager
• • Branch Manager
• • Finance Manager
• • And similar other designations
• 3. Operational/Lower level Management
• Operational level management is responsible for managing the coordination between the
operative workforce and middle-level Management. They micromanage specific tasks to
operative workers and manage teams. Operational level management has very few decision
making powers and generally execute orders of the middle-level management.
• Some of the standard designations of operational level management executives are –
• • Supervisor
• • Foreman
• • Clerk
• • Junior Managers
• • Inspectors
• • Sub-department executives
Characteristics: Top level management
• High level managers tend to have a substantial amount of experience, ideally
across a wide variety of functions.
• Many high-level managers become part of an executive team by mastering
their functional disciplines across various roles, becoming the Chief Operations
Officer (COO), Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chief Technology Officer (CIO or
CTO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Top management teams are also often industry experts, having a close
association with the long term trajectory of the businesses they operate in.
• They often benefit from being charismatic, powerful communicators with a
strong sense of accountability, confidence, integrity, and a comfort with risk.
President, Unilever, South Asia and Chair and Managing Director,
Hindustan Unilever
My purpose: “to get the best out of people and empower them
to deliver extraordinary results”

Sanjiv Mehta, President, Unilever, South Asia and Chair and

Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever

Sanjiv Mehta is the Chair and Managing Director of Hindustan

Unilever Limited (HUL). He has been leading Unilever’s business
in India and the South Asia cluster since October 2013.

Sanjiv brings with him a wealth of experience. He has been with

Unilever for nearly 28 years and, for the last 19 years, he has led
Unilever businesses in different parts of the world.
Varun Berry joined Britannia as Vice President & Chief Operating
Officer with effect from 1st February, 2013. He has an experience of
over 27 years with premier companies like Hindustan Unilever and
Pepsico, both in India and overseas and a successful track record in
leading start ups, turnarounds, joint ventures and growth
businesses.
Middle level management
• Middle management is the intermediate management level accountable to
top management and responsible for leading lower level managers.
• Middle management is at the center of a hierarchical organization,
subordinate to the senior management but above the lowest levels of
operational staff.
• Middle managers are accountable to top management for their
department’s function. They provide guidance to lower-level managers and
inspire them to perform better.
• Middle-management functions generally revolve around enabling teams of
workers to perform effectively and efficiently and reporting these
performance indicators to upper management.
Top Management- Role
• The right set of people in the top-management can make or break an
organization. We would also like to enlighten you about the functions that
these executives perform within an Organization –
• Top-level Management is responsible for strategizing and making plans for
the business. They form the company’s vision and mission, which helps every
employee and the customers understand the fundamentals of every business.
• They design the functions and responsibilities of middle-level Management.
They will assign tasks and goals for the employees to follow.
• Top-level Management drafts the policy of the company
• They manage the finance and all obligations of the company. In total, they are
solely responsible for the survival and growth of the Organization as a whole.
Roles and responsibilities-Top management
• The primary role of the executive team, or the top-level managers, is
to look at the organization as a whole and derive broad strategic
plans.
• Company policies, substantial financial investments, strategic
alliances, discussions with the board, stakeholder management, and
other top-level managerial tasks are often high-risk high return
decision-making initiatives in nature.
• Top-level management roles are therefore often high stress and high
influence roles within the organization.
Middle level managers: characteristics
• Middle-level managers are the backbone of organisations, particularly large
ones.
• They are the vital link between an organisation's senior leadership on one
hand and the ground personnel on the other.
• These managers are responsible for the implementation of the organization's
strategy on a day-to-day basis and it would be safe to say that a company's
success or failure largely depends on the strength of this cadre.
• A strong middle management also provides organisations with a pipeline of
future leaders.
• Besides, a strong managerial cadre also offers the added benefits of providing
much needed continuity and low attrition.
• Ability to balance both sides: Many a manager has confided in me about this
dilemma- If he is too friendly with his staff, he risks being seen as 'one of them' and
branded soft by the senior management. If he cozies up to his bosses and senior
management, he risks being branded a sycophant by his staff. Ability to walk the fine
line and keep both sides happy is a challenge.
• Team management: People management, conducting appraisals, dealing with teams,
their aspirations, motivating them to do well, knowing when to turn the pressure on
and when to withdraw are all finer aspects of leading which take people time to
learn. Unfortunately, the pressures of day-to-day business mean that managers have
to hit the ground running and they do not have the luxury to ease into the role. This
means in many instances, they may not get to know their team members well. This
problem further gets compounded when one is managing teams across various
geographies.
Functions and Responsibilities-Middle
Management
• There is a basic set of functions and responsibilities which are handled by middle-
level executives. Primary of these are –
• Communicate the policies and the mission set by top-level Management. They
are responsible for handling all the communications and maintaining a healthy
business environment in the office.
• Micro-manage the tasks performed by every member of the lower-level
Management. They are responsible for all the coordination between teams.
• They are responsible for the performance of lower-level executives. Motivating
and encouraging employees to work efficiently is a crucial responsibility.
• Middle-level Management handles all the recruitments and allocations within a
team. They hire the employees and manage company resources for optimum use.
Roles-middle level management
• Middle-level managers can include general managers, branch managers, and department managers.
• They are accountable to the top-level management for their department’s function, and they devote
more time to organizational and directional functions than upper management.
• Specific Roles include:
• Executing organizational plans in conformance with the company’s policies and the objectives of the
top management;
• Defining and discussing information and policies from top management to lower management;
• Most importantly, inspiring and providing guidance to lower-level managers to assist them in
performance improvement and accomplishment of business objectives.
• Middle managers may also communicate upward by offering suggestions and feedback to top
managers. Because middle managers are more involved in the day-to-day workings of a company,
they can provide valuable information to top managers that will help them improve the
organization’s performance using a broader, more strategic view.
Middle level manager functions:
• Middle managers’ roles may include several tasks depending on their
department. Some of their functions are as follows:
• Designing and implementing effective group work and information systems
• Defining and monitoring group-level performance indicators
• Diagnosing and resolving problems within and among work groups
• Designing and implementing reward systems
• Supporting cooperative behavior
• Reporting performance statistics up the chain of command and, when
applicable, recommending strategic change
• Because middle managers work with both top-level managers and
first-level managers, middle managers tend to have excellent
interpersonal skills relating to communication, motivation, and
mentoring. Leadership skills are also important in delegating tasks to
first-level managers.
Frontline managers
• Manage the functional aspects of the firm.
• managers are often highly skilled and even functional specialists.

• Responsibilities:
• The first is the expertise required to do whatever it is they are managing. If we are talking about
an accounting manager, they must be able to balance the books and understand enough of
everyone’s specific function to fill the gaps.
• On the managerial side, frontline managers are often tasked with hiring, assessing
performance, providing feedback, delegating functional tasks, identifying gaps, maximizing
efficiency, scheduling, and aligning teams.
• As the primary point of contact for most employees, frontline managers must be careful
listeners capable of understanding employee needs, removing blockers, and optimizing
performance.
Why management levels?
• When looking at different levels of management from a vertical frame,
the value of separating management this way essentially allows different
amounts of scope.
• The objective at the top of the hierarchy is to consider mid and long term
strategy for the organization at large. Middle managers usually take a
more specific aspect of this larger strategy, and ensure a more detailed
implementation. Managers on the front line focus almost exclusively on
effective execution, and are often much more short-term oriented.
• This allows each class of management to narrow their focus enough for
the work to actually be manageable.
• Information needs of the different levels of management are different.
• Organizations utilize different types of information systems to take their business
decisions for their operations. The hierarchy levels of the organizations in general
are operational, knowledge, management, and strategic. Accordingly, three main
categories of information systems serve at different organizational levels on
hierarchy are:
• I. Operational-level systems

• II. Management-level systems

• III. Strategic-level systems

• 1. Operational-level systems: Information systems that monitors and support operational
managers, keeping track of the elementary activities and business transactions of the
organization.

• E.g. Sales, receipts, cash deposits, pay roll, credit decisions and flow of materials in a factory.

• 2. Management-level systems: Information systems that serves the monitoring, controlling,

decision-making, and administrative activities of middle managers of the business organization

• 3. Strategic-level systems: Information systems that support the long-range planning activities
of senior management and help senior management tackle and address strategic issues to keep
the strategic growth of the business firm.
• Not all organisations are structured to get work done using the
traditional pyramid form
• Some organisations are more loosely structured wherein work is done
by ever-changing teams of employees who move from one project to
another as work demands arise.