Administrator is occasionally the title of the general manager or company secretary who reports to a corporate board of directors. Although in general, administration refers to the broader management function, including the associated finance, personnel and MIS services and people.

In some organizational analyses, management is viewed as a subset of administration, specifically associated with the technical and operational aspects of an organization, distinct from executive or strategic functions. Alternatively, administration can refer to the bureaucratic or operational performance of routine office tasks, usually internally oriented and reactive rather than proactive. Administrators, broadly speaking, engage in a common set of functions to meet the organization's goals. These "functions" of the administrator were described by Henri Fayol as "the six elements of administration"