Line management is a business term to describe the administration of activities that contribute directly to the output of products or services. In a corporate hierarchy a "line manager" holds authority in a vertical 'line' (chain of command), and/or over a particular product line. He or she is charged with meeting corporate objectives in a specific functional area or line of business

Line of Business

Line of business is a general term which often refers to a set of one or more highly related products which service a particular customer transaction or business need....

.

As an example, one type of line management at an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 conglomerate might be the "light truck division", or even more specifically, the "light truck marketing line". Similarly, one type of line management at a financial services

Financial services

Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...

 firm might be "retention marketing" or "state municipal bond funds".

Other responsibilities

The line management function will often cross into other functions vital to the success of a business, such as human resources

Human resources

Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...

, finance

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

, and risk management

Risk management

Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...

. Indeed, at the DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

Corporation, responsibility for risk management is vested with line management. Human resources obligations are also increasingly being assigned or "devolved" to line managers.

Line Management is also responsible for adopting (with the support of senior management) any type of organizational culture change.