The scrum master is a management role?

In Scrum everyone who works is a manager: we aim for self-managing teams. The project management function, for example, is refactored over all 3 accountabilities.

As a Scrum Master you are therefore also a manager. You manage people's understanding of Scrum. You manage whatever they have in their heads about it.

If you're preparing for the PSM I, I'd suggest being careful about third-party material. There's no way to ascertain that the questions and answers are based on the most recent revision of the Scrum Guide and, in cases where interpretation is required, if the interpretation aligns with Scrum.org's interpretation.

So without knowing the intent and interpretation behind this question, I can kind of see where they are coming from. Normally, the Scrum Master role is described as a "leader", which tends to make a lot more sense than "manager". However, managers don't have to be directing or in a command-and-control stance. I probably wouldn't use the word "manager" to describe the Scrum Master, since it often invokes the thought of a director, someone who commands, someone who allocates resources, and similar. However, a key function of management is to help the team or organization achieve their objectives, and the activities of helping to remove impediments or teaching others can move a team toward achieving their objectives.

Buyer beware when you buy cheap training you may get a poor experience. 

The following is my opinion and does not reflect the opinions of Scrum.org in any way.

I like @Ian's answer but I do not believe that the people at Udemy were being that creative. In fact, based upon questions I have seen from Udemy, I don't think they understand the Scrum framework in any way. 

No, a Scrum Master is not a manager.  They are facilitators as they facilitate the Scrum Team's ability to provide value and they facilitate the understanding of the Scrum framework across the organization.They are leaders as they help lead the organization and individuals into the best way to benefit from the Scrum framework.  They are servants as they strive to make things better for all people in the organization and anyone external that uses their products.  They are teachers, philosophers, coaches, mediators.  They are many things but in no way are they managers.  

The Merriam-Webster definition of Manager contains these statements

one that manages: 

a person who conducts business or household affairs

a person who directs a team or athlete

A Scrum Master does not do any of those actions. 

I disagree with the answer they chose.  

Nice answer Ian but that feels like a spin :) I agree with Thomas and Eric, that particular material is questionable. Although the team is self-managing there are no managers in Scrum as such. 

there are no managers in Scrum as such. 

As such as what, exactly?

I'd suggest there are no managers in the traditional sense, but perhaps there could be in another.

Reducing the statement "The scrum master is a management role" to true or false is unhelpful, because it does not develop that train of thought, and speaks of a role rather than an accountability. We indeed ought to be careful when choosing third party resources.

Hey Ian, of course you're right and my reply was a little light hearted, no offence intended.

All I was saying is that the question is misleading in that it calls out the scrum master as being a manager role whereas, as you rightly pointed out, everyone has a management responsibility inasmuch as the team is empowered and expected to self manage within the scope of their roles and responsibilities. 

I should have said, "in the traditional project management sense" rather than "as such" to make it clearer.

Many of the old way of thinking still place the SM as a "Management" role in a traditional sense. One who assigns performance ratings and bonuses. One gives the evaluations to the functional managers to have their yearly discussions with the employee.

In the true sense, there is no such thing in Scrum.

-The Scrum Master does "manage" how they are organizing their impediments they must deal with

-They have to "manage" that the team is able to handle their own conflicts without resorting to the SM as a quick escape

-A SM has to "manage" that the PO knows how to prioritize the Product backlog in terms of value

-A SM has to "manage" how to keep the organization (PM's, Functional managers, IT managers) from disrupting the team with items not related to the current work related to the product, or to the work commited 

These are just some examples of how the SM is a "Management" role in a non-traditional sense ( doing evaluations of employees, HR work for the team, for example)

I am new to Scrum, however in the White Paper by Barry Overeem 8 Stances of Scrum that I read. A SM is a manager and I quote "A Manager responsible for managing impediments, eliminate waste, managing the process, managing the team's health, managing the boundaries of self-organization, and managing the culture".

In my opinion, I will want to agree that a SM is literally a manager without the manager designation. 

Great point Abayomi Ajayi!

Many people stumbled on that one, and it seems to me that it has been written in May 2017 (do not know it/up to which extent it has been updated after the last version of the Scrum Guide).

I might be wrong, but in my personal opinion, the term "Manager" should not be a stance for a Scrum Master. The Scrum Master is a leader, not a manager, and he/she should teach/coach/mentor/let the rest of the Scrum Team self-manage.

I would love to hear the thoughts of the community about that.

I am new to Scrum, however in the White Paper by Barry Overeem 8 Stances of Scrum that I read. A SM is a manager and I quote "A Manager responsible for managing impediments, eliminate waste, managing the process, managing the team's health, managing the boundaries of self-organization, and managing the culture".

With this definition, also a developer is a manager, because he managed his desk, his IDE, his code, his work load and so on. 

I think, everyone is managing his work. Even a cleaner is managing, how he can clean every room efficiently and fast. But that doesn't makes him to a manager.

So before answering the question "is the scrum master a management role?" (even when in the newest version of the scrum guide, they removed the "role" definition and replace them with accountabilities), we need to find out, what a management role means, don't we?

In Agile organizations, management is a horizontal activity compared to the traditional organizations where management is purely a vertical approach. In a horizontal management, the teams self-manage, makes their own decisions, they collaborate, and they are conscious that unless all succeed in their part, none will succeed as a Scrum team given that they also share a common purpose.  

Within the context of the management role as it relates to the Scrum Master and other Scrum accountabilities, can be viewed as a Scrum team full of horizontal managers that embraces enabling over control, stimulates innovation and focuses on communicating horizontally.  

The difference between "Management" and "Manager" is that the former is an activity, and the latter is a role. I believe that the Scrum Master’s role is a management role.