What does top management do?

No, stephensaw, it is not a stupid question. When I was a director of multiple programs, I got to thinking about what I did. Bottom line, I realized that I was both the "oil" and the "glue" in the program. I made sure that things went smoothly, and that the teams worked efficiently.

On the highest levels of administration, their job is to think, to develop new ideas, and to network within their, and related, industries. The CEO is the one who sets the tone for the organization, and develops policies that are carried out by support staff.

Oh, I see. Well, I guess those CEO or highest management do more social networking with others is that right? When I was undergoes an internship at a IT training company, the director always on phone, and always sending email such that. After heard from you, it makes sense for me, and remind me back to my training period, my boss was always proposing new product and services to the sales team, and then the sales team start calling customer. Then the manager as also involve in selling product, besides, he also arrange the schedule for training and so on.

Well, thanks for the info. But I from what I seen on Hong Kong's series as well as other movie, those top management, like CEO and President, they compete so badly with other competitors, is that the new idea that they need to come out in order to compete with the competitors, and finding new strategies for them to gain competitive advantage?

Watch the movie "Office Space."
(and make sure you use cover sheets on your TPS reports)

Make decisions that affect lower managment and below without consulting those people to find out if it will even work and when it doesn't, blame those below for not being able to get it done.

Because there are different kinds of businesses, there are also different management structures. In some businesses where innovative thinking is less important to success than producing a small number of products in large numbers, managers have functions to reflect that need. Industries where innovative and creative solutions are fundamental, the management tends to be less hierarchical and folks at the lowest rungs are expected to do a whole lot more thinking.

Management is directly responsible for the success and profitability of the whole enterprise. If you, as a low-level employee, screw up badly enough you may be fired and in a day or so no one will remember you. If the top management screw up, even a little, they can cost the enterprise millions of dollars. You have responsibilities that are limited to your job, but the management are responsible for everything ... even stuff that they can't control. Managers like to have as much control and ability to direct as possible, even when their optimal structure suggests that relatively low-level subordinates should be trusted to control their own productivity.

Management coordinate the efforts, productivity and quality of work performed by their subordinates. Your low-level boss is responsible for hi/her unit, but the Executive Director is responsible for all employees and that might run into the hundreds of thousands of workers. Coordination of effort is important to insure that various work products begin, proceed and end in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Generally the larger the business and the more complex the end product is, the greater the risk that management will fail to some degree.

Similar to coordination, management needs to be able to see the Big Picture, and be reasonably successful in figuring out what the future holds. An outfit that made buggy whips and swords in the 19th century was doomed, if the top management failed to foresee the need to diversify into products viable to the changes caused by the Industrial Revolution. Most lower level employees only need to concentrate on their own finances and the workbench before them.

Thriving business need constant cash flow and credit. Top management has to find that money somewhere. They deal with banks, stocks and are constantly working to improve the profit margin and future of the business.

Top management sets the policies, procedures and the tone for the business and its particular culture. However, usually even the top management have to respond to their bosses ... the board of directors acting on behalf of the stockholders, some of whom might be the entry-level file clerk. Everyone in a well run business performs an important function, that taken as a whole results in how successful the business will be.

The lower on the organizational pyramid, the more limited are the businesses demands on the employee. You show up on time, follow your orders, leave on schedule and pick-up a paycheck. That's pretty much it in many businesses. The CEO is "on duty" 24/7, but usually has far more discretion in how the job is done. They tend to interact with other top executives, and often the best venue is on the golf course, or sharing a yacht during a three day cruise in the Aegean. To most of us it might look like a fun day in the sun, but the actuality is that it is a business event that might make a great difference in whether the company turns a profit, or goes out of business altogether. Sometimes these events are just what they seem, a fun vacation, but the dedicated executive is never wholly away from business concerns.

From the bottom of an organization it often seems that a top, or even middle management job is a thing greatly to be desired. Its true those jobs generally bring with them more money, discretion, and power over others. The price an individual pays to fill those positions can be very high. Constantly there is risk which is very stressful. Family life tends to suffer, and the executive's children can grow up with a warped idea of what the world is like. Top executives are at risk to become arrogant, self-indulgent, and demanding. Is money, fame and power really worth the price that must be paid? Some think so, and the rest of us benefit from their single-minded pursuit of "success".

Well, thanks for all the information.

Top mangement manges all the managers who manage the ones who do the actual managing. I hope this helps.