mismanagement

IPA/ˌmɪsˈmænɪdʒmənt/
KK[mɪsmˈænɪdʒmənt]IPA/ˌmɪsˈmænɪdʒmənt/

mismanagement — noun

1. the failure to run a business, project, or situation in a careful and competent

1.nounC1
Definition

the failure to run a business, project, or situation in a careful and competent way, often leading to waste, loss, or harm.

Example

Years of mismanagement left the family bakery deep in debt.

collocation: years of mismanagement

Tariq blamed the hospital's financial mismanagement for the staff shortages.

collocation: financial mismanagement

Common collocations
  • financial mismanagement
  • gross mismanagement
  • years of mismanagement
  • mismanagement of funds
  • alleged mismanagement
Synonyms
  • misadministration

    formal, often used of governments or large institutions

  • maladministration

    very formal; suggests deliberate or systemic failure in public office

  • negligence

    broader; emphasises careless failure of a duty, not only management

Antonyms
  • stewardship

    careful, responsible management of resources entrusted to one

Grammar Patterns

mismanagement of [something]

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable; frequently modified by 'financial', 'gross', or 'years of', and typically followed by 'of + the resource or institution being mishandled'.

Common Mistakes

There were many mismanagements at the company.
There was a lot of mismanagement at the company.
uncountable, so no plural and no 'a/an'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words point at things going wrong because someone in charge fell short, but they highlight different failures. Mismanagement is the everyday business word: it suggests that a person or team in charge of a project, budget, or organization made poor decisions and the outcome suffered. Negligence is broader and more legal — it stresses a careless failure to perform a duty owed to someone, and is often used about safety, care, or professional responsibility. Maladministration is very formal, mostly reserved for government bodies, ombudsman reports, and complaints about public officials; it can imply unfairness, not only inefficiency. Incompetence focuses on the person's lack of skill rather than the act itself. So one might say: 'The clinic was sued for negligence after the medication error, but the wider mismanagement of staff rotas pointed to incompetence at the top, and the inquiry called it maladministration.'

mismanagement ↗negligence ↗maladministration ↗incompetence ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • mismanagement of funds
  • mismanagement of resources
  • mismanagement of the economy
  • mismanagement of the crisis

Phrases

  • alleged mismanagement
  • gross mismanagement
  • financial mismanagement
  • years of mismanagement

Prepositions

  • mismanagement of
  • mismanagement at
  • mismanagement by

Etymology

ItalianFrenchEnglish

Built in English by adding the negative prefix 'mis-' (meaning 'wrongly' or 'badly', from Old English) to the noun 'management', which itself came from the verb 'manage' borrowed from Italian 'maneggiare' (to handle, especially horses) via French. The compound 'mismanagement' appears in English from the late 1600s, growing common as joint-stock companies and public offices created more situations where someone could be held accountable for handling things badly.