Common Terms, Levels and Roles in Management
© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Sections of this Topic Include
Common Roles in Management
Corresponding Types of Development
- Board Development
- Executive Development
- Management Development
- Managerial Development
- Leadership Development
- Supervisoral Development
Also consider
Related Library Topics
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Board of Directors (Governance)
(NOTE: Many experts would assert that the focus of a Board in a corporation
is on governance and not on management. They would clarify that the Board determines
the overall purpose and strategic priorities, and the management implements
those.)
A board is a group of people who are legally charged to govern an organization
(usually a corporation) — thus, they are “governing boards.” The
board is responsible for setting strategic direction, establishing broad policies
and objectives, and hiring and evaluating the chief executive officer. The chief
executive officer reports to the board and is responsible for carrying out the
board’s strategic policies. The nature of a board can vary widely in nature.
Some boards act like “policy boards”, that is, they take a strong
policy-making role, and expect the chief executive to operate the organization
according to those policies. Some boards, despite their being legally responsible
for the activities of the corporation, follow all of the directions and guidance
of the chief executive (in this case, board members arguably are not meeting
their responsibilities as a board). Still, other boards take a strong “working
board”, or hands-on role, including micro-managing the chief executive
and organization. For more information, see Boards
of Directors.
What is Management?
Traditional Interpretation
There are a variety of views about this term. Traditionally, the term “management”
refers to the activities (and often the group of people) involved in the four
general functions listed below. (Note that the four functions recur throughout
the organization and are highly integrated):
1) Planning,
including identifying goals, objectives, methods, resources needed to carry
out methods, responsibilities and dates for completion of tasks. Examples of
planning are strategic planning, business planning, project planning, staffing
planning, advertising and promotions planning, etc. (See Planning
(many kinds).)
2) Organizing resources
to achieve the goals in an optimum fashion. Examples are organizing new departments,
human resources, office and file systems, re-organizing businesses, etc. (See
Organizing
(many kinds).)
3) Leading,
including to set direction for the organization, groups and individuals and
also influence people to follow that direction. Examples are establishing strategic
direction (vision, values, mission and / or goals) and championing methods of
organizational performance management to pursue that direction. (See All
About Leadership.)
4) Controlling, or coordinating,
the organization’s systems, processes and structures to reach effectively and
efficiently reach goals and objectives. This includes ongoing collection of
feedback, and monitoring and adjustment of systems, processes and structures
accordingly. Examples include use of financial controls, policies and procedures,
performance management processes, measures to avoid risks etc. (See Coordinating
Activities.)
Another common view is that “management” is getting things done through
others. Yet another view, quite apart from the traditional view, asserts that
the job of management is to support employee’s efforts to be fully productive
members of the organizations and citizens of the community.
To most employees, the term “management” probably means the group
of people (executives and other managers) who are primarily responsible for
making decisions in the organization. In a nonprofit, the term “management”
might refer to all or any of the activities of the board, executive director
and/or program directors.
Read the rest of the overall topic Management
(Introduction) to understand more about management.
Another Interpretation
Some writers, teachers and practitioners assert that the above view is rather
outmoded and that management needs to focus more on leadership skills, e.g.,
establishing vision and goals, communicating the vision and goals, and guiding
others to accomplish them. They also assert that leadership must be more facilitative,
participative and empowering in how visions and goals are established and carried
out. Some people assert that this really isn’t a change in the management functions,
rather it’s re-emphasizing certain aspects of management. For more information,
see New
Paradigm in Management.
Executives
Usually, this term generally applies to those people or specific positions
in top levels of management, e.g., chief executive officers, chief operating
officers, chief financial officers, vice presidents, general managers of large
organizations, etc. In large organizations, executives often have different
forms of compensation or pay, e.g., they receive portions of the company’s stock,
receive executive-level “perks, etc. Chief executives usually pay strong
attention to strategic plans and organizational performance, whether measured
financially or from impact of services to a community. Many people think of
the Chief Executive Officer as heading up large, for-profit corporations. This
is not entirely true. The majority of businesses in the United States are small
businesses, whether for-profit or nonprofit. Their top executives could be called
Chief Executive Officers. For more information, see Chief
Executive Role.
Managers
A classic definition is that “Leaders do the right thing
and managers do things right.” A more standard definition
is usually something like “managers work toward the organization’s
goals using its resources in an effective and efficient manner.”
In a traditional sense, large organizations may have different
levels of managers, including top managers, middle managers and
first-line managers. Top (or executive) managers are responsible
for overseeing the whole organization and typically engage in
more strategic and conceptual matters, with less attention to
day-to-day detail. Top managers have middle managers working for
them and who are in charge of a major function or department.
Middle managers may have first-line managers working
for them and who are responsible to manage the day-to-day activities
of a group of workers.
Note that you can also have different types of managers across the same levels
in the organization. A project manager is in charge of developing a certain
project, e.g., development of a new building. (See Project
Planning.) A functional manager is in charge of a major function,
such as a department in the organization, e.g., marketing, sales, engineering,
finance, etc. (For example, see Program
Planning) A product manager is in charge of a product or service.
Similarly, a product line manager is in charge of a group of closely
related products. (See Product/Service
Management.) General managers are in charge of numerous functions
within an organization or department.
Leaders
Very simply put, a leader is interpreted as someone who sets direction in an
effort and influences people to follow that direction. They set direction by
developing a clear vision and mission, and conducting planning that determines
the goals needed to achieve the vision and mission. They motivate by using a
variety of methods, including facilitation, coaching, mentoring, directing,
delegating, etc. As noted above, one of the four key functions of management
is leading (along with planning, organizing and controlling). Leaders carry
out their roles in a wide variety of styles, e.g., autocratic, democratic, participatory,
laissez-faire (hands off), etc. Often, the leadership style depends on the situation,
including the life cycle, culture and strategic priorities of the organization.
There are many views about what characteristics and traits that leaders should
have. There are also numerous theories about leadership, or about carrying out
the role of leader, e.g., servant leader, democratic leader, principle-centered
leader, group-man theory, great-man theory, traits theory, visionary leader,
total leader, situational leader, etc. See
All About Leadership
“Leading versus Managing”?
(Whatever the title, the person in the top-level position in the organization
is (or at least should be) responsible for setting (or, in the case of corporations,
pursuing) the overall direction for the organization. Consequently (and unfortunately?),
the “executive” level of management is often referred to as the “leadership”
of the organization.)
With recent focus on the need for transformational leadership to guide organizations
through successful change, the term “leadership” has also been used
to refer to those who embrace change and lead the change of organizations for
the betterment of all stakeholders. Some people believe that leadership occurs
only at the top levels of organizations and managing occurs in the levels farther
down the organization. Some people believe that leadership occurs (or should
occur) throughout the organization, but still use the term “leadership”
mostly to refer to the top positions in the organization. Others believe that
managing and leading occur at many levels of the organization. For more information,
see
Is
Leading Different than Managing? (pros and cons of this debate)
(This term is commonly misapplied when people use the term mostly to refer
to the top levels in an organization. The term has — and should have — much
broader usage. Anyone at any level in an organization can show leadership; thus,
almost anyone can be a leader in the organization.)
Supervisors
(This is a widely misunderstood term. Many people believe it
applies only to people who oversee the productivity and development
of entry-level workers. That’s not true.) The term “supervisor”
typically refers to one’s immediate superior in the workplace,
that is, the person whom you report directly to in the organization.
For example, a middle manager’s supervisor typically would
be a top manager. A first-line manager’s supervisor would
be a middle manager. A worker’s supervisor typically would
be a first-line manager.
Supervisors typically are responsible for their direct reports’
progress and productivity in the organization. Supervision often
includes conducting basic management skills (decision making,
problem solving, planning, delegation and meeting management),
organizing teams, noticing the need for and designing new job
roles in the group, hiring new employees, training new employees,
employee performance management (setting goals, observing and
giving feedback, addressing performance issues, firing employees,
etc.) and ensuring conformance to personnel policies and other
internal regulations.
Supervisors typically have strong working knowledge of the activities in their
group, e.g., how to develop their product, carry out their service, etc. Many
also use the term “supervisor” to designate the managerial position
that is responsible for a major function in the organization, for example, Supervisor
of Customer Service. For more information, see Basic
Overview of Supervision.
Supervision is a leadership role especially when leading in the domain of leading
other individuals and groups.
Work Directors
Work directors directly oversee the work of their subordinates. They carry
out their oversight role by specifically assigning work and then closely monitoring
to ensure the work is carried out according to their wishes. Often, people work
their way up through management levels by starting out as work directors. Over
time, they develop skills in delegation, which frees them up from having to
closely monitor the work of their subordinates and, instead, to attend to more
high-level managerial activities. Work directors are not always at lower levels
of the organization. For example, a middle- or upper-level manager who has poorly
developed delegation skills might still be interpreted as work directing her
or his subordinates.
Boards of Directors / Governance Development
Board / Governance development refers to the activities involved
in enhancing skills of the corporation’s board members to effectively
fill their role in governing the corporation. Board development
typically includes helping board members to understand their role
of boards, build skills in recruiting and training board members,
carry out effective board meetings, make policy decisions about
strategic goals and finances, evaluate the board and chief executive
officer, etc. For more information, see Boards
of Directors.
Management Development
Usually, this term refers to the activities involved in enhancing
leaders’, managers’ and supervisor’s abilities to plan, organize,
lead and control the organization and its members. Consequently,
many view the term “management development” to include
executive development (developing executives), leadership development
(developing leaders), managerial development (developing managers)
and supervisoral development (developing supervisors). For more
information, see Management
Development.
As mentioned above, there are people who assert a strong difference
between “leading” and “managing”. These people
often refer to leadership development (developing skills in leadership)
as apart from management (and managerial) development (developing
skills in planning, organizing and controlling). See Leading
Versus Managing (pros and cons of the debate).
Executive Development
(Today’s organizations are changing dramatically. Successful
change requires strong leadership from top positions in the organizations.
Therefore, writers often interchange use of the phrases “leadership
development” with “executive development”. They
are not the same. As noted above, this is handy, but it can cause
substantial confusion.)
Executive development refers to the activities involved in
enhancing one’s ability to carry out top-level roles in the organization.
Some key skills for executives to have include understanding the
external environment of the organization, leadership, strategic
planning, financial forecasting and analysis, organizing, program
planning and human resource management, etc. For more information,
see Chief
Executive Role.
Managerial Development
This term is not frequently used. When it is, it is usually meant in the same
regard as management development.
Supervisoral Development
Supervisoral development refers to the activities involved
in enhancing one’s ability to oversee, guide and evaluate activities
of immediate subordinates in the organization. Supervisor development
often includes learning basic skills in employee performance management,
managing meetings, project management, etc. Good supervisory development
should also include developing skills in time and stress management
— the role of supervisor is often quite stressful to those who
are first getting used to the hectic activities of management.
For more information, see Supervisoral
Development.
Leadership Development
Leadership development refers to the activities involved in
enhancing one’s ability to establish vision and goals, and motivate
and guide others to achieve the vision and goals. Leadership development
is critical at almost any level in the organization —
not just the executive level. For more information, see Leadership
Development.
Additional Online Readings
Guidelines to Carefully Examine Literature (and Avoid Confusion)
About Leadership
Guidelines
to Understanding Literature About Leadership
Definitions Management, Managing …
What is Management? Definitions
Management Definitions by Great Management Scholars
Management Dictionary, Glossary and Terms directory
Leading Versus Managing
Leadership Theories
Management Styles
Fundamental
Difference Between Leading and Managing
Leader
or Manager? These 10 Important Distinctions Can Help You Out
For the Category of Management:
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