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What does an Administrative Manager do?

G. Melanson
G. Melanson

An administrative manager oversees the support operations of a business or organization. Also known as an office manager, this is the person that keeps a department or company running smoothly. Someone in this position may provide managerial support to a particular division or department, or to an entire company. He or she may also supervise other clerical personnel in an office. The strongest administrative managers have the detail-orientation to keep track of all the day-to-day operations of a business along with strong analytical skills and an ability to work with many different types of people.

Skill Set

An administrative manager must frequently cover general clerical tasks.
An administrative manager must frequently cover general clerical tasks.

A person working in this position needs to be very detail-oriented, which will be reflected in his or her reports to supervisors and simultaneous management of multiple schedules. Those working in a supervisory role need to be able to lead teams of other people effectively, and make the right judgment call when it comes to determining whether a course of action is within company policy. Additionally, anyone working in this position needs to be good with people, as he or she will likely be dealing with both junior employees and clients. He or she also needs to be able to analyze information and make decisions based on his or her analysis, as administrative managers often have to help develop budgets or write reports on employee performance.

Duties and Responsibilities

An administrative manager keeps a department or company running smoothly.
An administrative manager keeps a department or company running smoothly.

On any given day, an administrative manager would likely cover general clerical tasks, including correspondence, filing, scheduling, and data entry, but he or she would also help out with facilities maintenance and phone coverage when needed. His or her analytical and organizational skills would come into play in implementing, maintaining and managing the business' operational systems. This includes doing things like managing the budget for office supplies, using database systems, and making sure broken office equipment gets fixed or replaced. Sometimes a person in this position is focused on one other person in the organization: for instance, he or she might manage an executive's schedule and e-mail.

Supervisory Role

Administrative managers working in larger companies may oversee a team of clerical workers. In this case, he or she makes schedules for the office, assigns jobs to people, and makes sure that they get done properly. When special projects come up, the administrative manager is the one who breaks them down into steps and keeps the people working on the project on track. He or she also has to perform evaluations of staff and provide training or take disciplinary action against staff members who do not perform appropriately.

Human Resources and Other Specialities

In some companies, an administrative manager may also fulfill the role of human resources in a variety of employee-related tasks. This includes writing up contracts, processing payroll, and recruiting and training employees. In organizations with a few administrative managers, each one is generally responsible for a particular area or speciality. For instance, an executive office might hire one manager to keep track of all of its higher ups' schedules, another to supervise payroll, and another to oversee the day-to-day work in the IT department.

Discussion Comments

anon341575

An administrative manager does not have his profile defined. Sometimes he plays the role of HR person, sometimes a lawyer, a driver, a doctor, an engineer and even sometimes a policeman also. Because his responsibilities always change for the different profession as well.

anon317407

Well said. The admin manager's duties are duly explained, but I would like to add one important thing.

When a company is run by one admin manager only, he has to interact not only with the employees but also with outside agencies, like government departments, for exampled. Most of the time, this helps a lot for those managers to move smoothly with the government officials and get things done, if required.

One such thing I would prescribe is the registration of a company with the local authorities. If it is required and a must locally, then it is the admin manager who will run from pillar to post for getting things done. --

M. Tamijuddin

geline

how do i enroll in an online business management course?

Bhutan

Icecream17- I think that the office manager job would be fun. I would love to plan an office party. Do you know if you need a special degree to get this type of work?

icecream17

Good article- I want to add that administration managers also plan meetings and conferences. They also facilitate travel plans for its executive staff and coordinate office parties as well.

Office mangers definitely have to wear many hats as they have to effective interact well with the entire office and makes sure that the office runs smoothly as well.

For example, if an office manager forgets to book travel plans for an executive that is meeting a potential new client, not only does this put the meeting in jeopardy, but the last minute airline and hotel fares might increase the cost of both the airline fare and the hotel stay.

This will cost the company more money. Which is something the office manager has to avoid.

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    • An administrative manager must frequently cover general clerical tasks.
      By: Igor Mojzes
      An administrative manager must frequently cover general clerical tasks.
    • An administrative manager keeps a department or company running smoothly.
      By: opolja
      An administrative manager keeps a department or company running smoothly.