It’s easy to come up with thirty types of managers, to mention some just thinking: sales managers, marketing managers, operations managers, logistics, HRM, finance, CFO, business development managers, quality managers, quality managers, etc., etc …
But where is the real difference in these examples. What’s the key to understanding the main focus of the manager?
There are many ways to define the main focus of management but one of them is directly but also not often applied. It’s about distributing between business and organizations.
1. Business
The connecting element in this type of management is a particular domain in business, for example: logistics, finance, retail, operation, purchases, etc. The main characteristics of business management are directly related to business activities. A sales manager must set a sales target, must approve this target with the sales team and he will manage the target because sales revenue is reported.
Marketing management is a little less involved directly in the business but still measured: the campaign is made, run and the impact on client activity and prospects can be measured.
Part of both is that non-business related activities are needed (such as recruitment) but this is not the main activity. When new employees are needed, the sales manager can overcome the HRM department and ask for recruitment procedures.
2. Organization
The link element here is a supporting action for the main business but where external clients have never been seen. Area is: HRM, finance, quality, technology, infrastructure management, etc., etc.
Requests from sales managers to recruit new employees are accepted in the HRM department. They send employees to verify the details of the vacancies and requirements and it will search for the market for candidates.
The sales team is involved in this activity but only a little. It also depends on the size of the organization. (For single entrepreneurs, the difference between business and organization is not explicit).
Of course there are managers (such as project managers) where this difference is not suitable. Project managers manage future businesses by organizing the project team …
But let’s concentrate on the main differences in the type of manager: business or organization.
A business manager will find it difficult to turn into a management role that is more organized. Don’t ask business managers (logistics) to become a quality department manager, Risk Department or HR department. This role is very different and requires different types of managers. Likewise the quality manager or HR manager will not match the head of the business department.
Where business managers are more vulnerable to thinking in number and time (the number of sales, income, resources used, etc.) organizational managers are more biased to thinking at the level (level of quality, security, salary, training and education, etc.). Someone is often regulated in a descentral (business – close to clients) which is often regulated in a clear way.