In 1972, a small informal group of administrative assistants in the College of Letters and Science met to discuss the formation of an organization on the Davis campus similar to Berkeley's Academic Business Officers Group. The fledgling organization chose the Administration and Management Group as its official name, with ADMAN as the short form.

During the organizational process, the Executive Board met with the Chancellor, Vice chancellor, Personnel Manager, and various Deans to discuss the role such an organization could play on the Davis campus. Initially, the group was comprised of Principal Staff Assistants in the College of Letters and Sciences who met to exchange ideas and review policy for departmental chairs. By 1976, with the help and support of then-Chancellor James H. Meyer, ADMAN was recognized as an official staff organization.

The name was then formally changed to Administrative Management Group. Bylaws were drafted, defining membership as open to staff employees with primary administrative responsibility for instruction and research (I&R) units. These bylaws were revised over the years to extend membership to persons in non-I&R units; to provide for election, by the membership at large, of one representative from each school or college to serve on the Executive Board and for a Chairperson; to establish the election of a Vice-chair to serve for one year as Chair-elect, and then as Chair the following year; to provide election of a Member-at-large to represent individuals outside the formal schools and colleges. In 1996, the bylaws were changed to include... "employees whose primary responsibilities are administrative supervisory or managerial and whose titles are in the Management and Administrative Program (MAP) or Administrative and Professional Staff (A&PS) and who are not represented by an exclusive agent".

The group now consists of a multi-talented organization of more than 150 professional middle managers from campus and the Medical Center.