Meaning & use
management
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Meanings
noununcountablebusiness
The act of running a business or organization and directing the people who work in it.
Grammar: No plural and no article: good management is rare.
Patterns
- management of something
- under new management
Good management can turn a failing shop around.
The management of the hospital is very complex.
She studied business management at university.
nounsingularbusiness
The people who run a company or organization as a group.
Grammar: Treated as a group: the management has announced changes; British speakers may use a plural verb.
Patterns
- management decided to do something
- senior management
The management has agreed to raise wages.
Employees asked to speak with management about the schedule.
noununcountable
The skill of handling or controlling something carefully, such as money, time or a problem.
Grammar: Usually after a noun in a compound: time management, waste management.
Patterns
- management of something
- time management
Time management helped him meet every deadline.
Careful money management let them save for a house.
Pain management is an important part of treatment.
Word forms
| plural | managements |
|---|
Common combinations
- senior management
- Senior management approved the new budget.
- time management
- Time management is a key skill for students.
- under new management
- The cafe is under new management.
- risk management
- Risk management helps banks avoid losses.
- poor management
- Poor management led to the shop closing.
- waste management
- The city invested in waste management.
Synonyms and how they differ
- administration
- Administration stresses the paperwork and organization behind running something, while management stresses directing people and decisions.
- leadership
- Leadership is about guiding and inspiring people, whereas management is more about organizing resources and tasks.
- control
- Control stresses power over something, but management stresses careful handling to reach goals.
- supervision
- Supervision means watching over people's work, while management covers a wider range of decisions.
Opposites
Word family
- manage verb
- to run, control or cope with something
- manager noun
- a person who runs a business or team
- managerial adjective
- relating to the work of a manager
- mismanagement noun
- poor or careless handling of something
- manageable adjective
- easy enough to deal with
Commonly confused: management or manager?
management vs manager
A manager is one person who runs a team, while management is the activity or the group of managers.
Practice
The staff asked ___ to explain why the opening hours were changing.
Choose one answer.
The management names the group in charge of the company. Managerial is an adjective and managing does not fit the sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “management”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.