Is Business Administration and Business Management the same?

Is business administration and business management the same? The question might pop up in the mind of people who are looking to pursue a business management degree and sometimes also in the mind of people of those who are already pursuing business management degrees.

There is a long debate running across on the subject. Great management thinkers are unable to decide the distinctions or similarities between business administration and business management. However, the previous management studies thinkers have given their thoughts on business management and business administration, which suggests that management and administration are similar in nature but, may have certain distinctions. However, ancient management thinkers like P.F.Drucker, Fayol, and Newman considered management and administration as synonyms. However, later management thinkers like Oliver Sheldon, William.R.Spriegel, and G.E.Milward gave certain distinctions between business management and business administration.

Differences between Business Administration and Business Management

The distinctions are based on the functions they perform-

Administration deals with policy framing while management is linked to execution of the framed policy.
Administration generally emphasizes on determining certain factors affecting the business and take suitable decisions regarding them, while management involves leadership and governing qualities.
Administration is a function which involves thoughts and mind work, whereas management is a working function which actually works both physically and mentally.
Administration generally implies to top level of management while the management generally refers to the middle level or the lower level of the organization.
Administration requires very little of technical skills but, basically deals with administrative qualities, while management is generally based on technical skills above the administrative skills.

Next distinctions are based on application of various skills in the administrative and managerial platform. The skills are basically divided into three types-

First being the ability of an individual to consider an organization as a whole and not to segregate the organization’s development and growth into bits and pieces unnecessarily. This skill is termed as ‘Conceptual Skills’.
Second being a body of knowledge which comprises of little extra of theoretical knowledge rather than practical knowledge. These skills are essential for performing day to day activities in the organization at various levels.
Inter- Personnel and Inter-Personal skills are based on maintaining effective communication base to convey the essential matters to others. Also, it comprises of managing the human resources to accomplish the organization requirements.

For administration, the distribution is as follows according to some management thinkers-

60% of conceptual skills

20% of technical skills

And 20% of inter-personnel and inter-personal skills

For management, the distribution is as follows-

15% of conceptual skills

55%% of technical skills

30% of inter-personnel and inter-personal skills

These classifications suggest that both business administration and business management are crucial components of an organization. The organization’s functioning and working cannot be complete without both of these ingredients. A person has to attain all round skills to be successful in the business world. He/she cannot focus on administration or management skills as a candidate moves up from operational management level, which tests the technical skills to management level, which tests the inter-personnel and inter-personal skills to the administrative level which involves high amount of conceptual skills.

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