to manage; management; administration
HSK level
管理 (guǎnlǐ) means 'to manage, administer, or supervise' as a verb, and 'management / administration' as a noun.
It covers running an organization, overseeing people or resources, and maintaining a system — a manager 管理 a team, software 管理 files, a government 管理 traffic. Literally 'to control and put in order,' it combines authority with the sense of keeping things orderly. Two differences from English 'manage': first, 管理 does not carry the everyday sense of 'manage to do something' (succeed in doing) — that idea is expressed with 设法 or 想办法 instead.
Second, 管理 stays close to organized, ongoing oversight; a quick, one-off 'handle this' is 处理 (chǔlǐ), not 管理. Register is neutral and extremely common in business, IT, and civic contexts.
Character by character
Memory hook: 管 (control) + 理 (put in order) = to keep things controlled and orderly, i.e. to manage.
管理 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
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Tā guǎnlǐ zhe yí ge dà tuánduì.
He manages a large team.
neutral
我不太会管理自己的时间。
Wǒ bú tài huì guǎnlǐ zìjǐ de shíjiān.
I'm not very good at managing my time.
spoken
这个软件可以帮你管理文件。
Zhège ruǎnjiàn kěyǐ bāng nǐ guǎnlǐ wénjiàn.
This software can help you manage your files.
neutral
公司需要更好的管理。
Gōngsī xūyào gèng hǎo de guǎnlǐ.
The company needs better management.
written
管理 is written with 25 strokes (管: 14, 理: 11). Tap replay to watch each character drawn again.
处理 means 'to handle / deal with' a specific task or problem, often one-off. 管理 means ongoing oversight of people or systems. You 处理 a complaint today; you 管理 the customer-service team every day.
经营 means 'to operate / run (a business)' with a focus on making it profitable. 管理 focuses on organizing and controlling. An owner 经营 a shop (runs it as a business) and also 管理 the staff (oversees them).
管 alone can mean 'to mind / control / bother about' in casual speech (别管我 'leave me alone'). 管理 is the formal two-syllable word for structured management. Don't use bare 管 in a business title.
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