What is management?

It’s often said that some people are born to follow while others are born to lead. Besides needing to have a natural aptitude for leading, if you want to work in a management or leadership position, you’ll need to learn the right skills before you can land a job.

Those skills can come from having experience or qualifications, or both. Every organisation needs to be managed. Therefore, you can work in a management or leadership role for any type of industry.

Regardless of the career sector you work in, management positions generally involve setting strategies for an organisation, coordinating with employees and accomplishing objectives through financial, technological and human resources.

There are many different levels of management jobs though, so you wouldn’t always be working directly with members of staff. For instance, managing directors are responsible for entire organisations, department managers lead a group of people, and line managers oversee one or more member of staff.

There are also positions like management accountants, who are responsible for recording and maintaining an organisation’s finances and who do not manage people.

Areas in Management and Leadership

With all organisations needing managers and leaders, there are a wide range of employment areas you could work in. If you want to work in a management or team leader role without necessarily needing qualifications, you could start straight away in some sectors.

These career sectors may offer training programmes, in which you can learn the skills you need to work in a management role.

Alternatively, in many of these sectors, you may need to start work in an entry-level position and then progress to a management role after you have gained experience and demonstrated your worth.

These types of work sectors include retail, hotels, bars and tourist attractions. Other management and leadership areas in which you could work include project management, management consultancy, management accountancy, and sectors like education, business and law.

Why study a management course?

Although many career sectors don’t require you to have higher-education qualifications to work in a management or leadership role, many sectors do.

The more specialised the area you want to work in is, the more likely it is you’ll need to have a qualification.

There are a variety of management-related courses you can enrol with at all levels, such as:

• A level two course in Team Leading.
• A level three course in Principles of Management and Leadership.
• A level four course in Management and Leadership.
• A level five course in Management and Leadership.

Career Outcomes from a Management Course

If you progress in your higher education to earn a degree in a subject like business management, you will have a greater choice of career opportunities.

With a degree in a management-related subject, you could become a:

• Business Development Manager: This role involves improving and growing a business.
• Risk Manager: This involves advising organisations about potential risks to their profitability or existence.

Supply Chain Manager: This position involves overseeing the movement of products, from manufacturers to customers.