The process of managing a business or non-profit organization so that it remains stable and grows is known as business administration. This covers a wide range of topics, from operations to management. Business administration encompasses a wide range of positions, including business support, office manager, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), among others. The majority of businesses have a dedicated team of administrators.
Areas of Focus
Operations, logistics, marketing, economics, Human Resources (HR), and management are the main areas of business administration. An administrator oversees these aspects of a company to ensure that they are all operating properly and efficiently on their own, as well as working together to make the company profitable. He or she may also think of ways to make the department more profitable, and he or she frequently delegate tasks to department employees. At least one administrator is usually assigned to each department in a large corporation.
Functions
Most businesses have a variety of administrative positions in various levels of the organization. Business support officers work at the office level and may develop and maintain an office database, supervise other employees on projects, and assist the manager in analyzing performance trends. Office managers, at the next level, are in charge of overseeing an entire office, preparing budgets and staff performance analyses, designing procedures, and assigning projects, among other things. If a company is large enough, it may have several assistant managers to assist the office manager.
Division administrators, who oversee large portions of an organization, come after office-level managers. They usually focus on a single aspect of business administration. For example, a company might appoint someone with a specialization in HR administration to oversee that department and ensure that it is operating efficiently in order to meet the company’s overall objectives. This includes things like evaluating HR staff members’ performance, hiring new staff for the department if necessary or letting go of non-performing employees, and ensuring that the hiring process is efficient.
In business administration, the chief executive officer (CEO) or president is the person in charge of the overall operations. Although the CEO and president may share the same office, this varies company. Depending on the size of the company, the CEO may have several vice presidents, each in charge of a different aspect of operations. There could be a vice president of marketing, a vice president of research and design, and a vice president of sales or customer relations, for example. Each of these is self-contained.
Working Conditions
The working environment for a business administrator is largely determined the type of job he or she performs. Lower-level employees frequently work in structured environments and submit frequent reports to their superiors, whereas higher-level employees may have more flexibility with their schedules. Work hours may be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or more flexible, depending on the type of organization. When large projects are nearing completion or annual analyses and presentations are required, overtime is frequently required.
Anyone in this position, in general, should have excellent communication skills, as he or she will be working with a variety of people, sending out memos, and preparing reports. They must also be comfortable giving presentations and able to lead others. Another important skill is the ability to comprehend how many different parts of a system or organization interact in order to create workable systems and determine what is wrong with those that do not. Most are also very good at math and have a good understanding of economics, as they are in charge of budgeting and analyzing the performance of their office, department, or company.
Education is very important.
Many universities offer both online and offline business administration programs. Customer service, business finance, marketing, and human resources are all important aspects of running a business in a typical curriculum. Minoring in a related field, such as applied science for engineers or psychology for marketing and sales, can help aspiring administrators improve their marketability.
Most large corporations prefer candidates with a master’s degree in a business-related field. This usually entails gaining hands-on experience, such as interning at a company to get a sense of how the various aspects fit together. Depending on the field of study, a student may be required to write and implement a business plan to demonstrate competency; for example, a marketing or sales plan for a hypothetical product may be required.