Organizational structure question

Submitted by Jason Clishe
in
General Questions and Comments
This is probably a stupid question but I'll fire away anyway... I've seen org charts where a President and Vice President appear as peers. For example, President of Business Development and VP of Technology, both reporting to the CEO. So in that context, what's the difference between the two?
Submitted by Mike Hansen on Tuesday March 11th, 2008 10:02 pm

It might be how the Corp structure is set up, incuding sub-corporations. This is often done for tax allocations or other reasons. The president could be over a sub-corp.

Alternatively, it could just be naming conventions they use. Sometimes a company will use certian titles a little more loosely if it helps dealings with third parties go smoother. The third party deals with the "President of xxx" instead of a VP.

my .02
-Mike

Submitted by BJ Marshall on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 4:43 am

In my organization, the org chart represents who reports to whom despite the fact that some of the employees on the same "level" have different job descriptions. Just because they're on the same "level" does not mean they hold similar positions.

Cheers,
BJ

Submitted by Tom Waltz on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 6:00 am

[quote="Sproket"]This is probably a stupid question but I'll fire away anyway...

I've seen org charts where a President and Vice President appear as peers. For example, President of Business Development and VP of Technology, both reporting to the CEO.

So in that context, what's the difference between the two?[/quote]

It sounds like it's not the president and vice president of a company, it's a vice president of the company and a president of a division.

Submitted by Paul Moriarty on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 10:34 am

President has morphed into a funny title these days. I have seen:

President of a division.
President of a foreign operation, e.g., President, BigCo Asia
President and COO, reporting to a CEO, but not on the Board of Directors
President and Chief Creative Officer, reporting to a CEO

I think it's become a perk in some instances, where a person is performing in a VP role but wants the title. Much like the distinction between EVP, SVP and VP, especially in smaller companies. (Ever notice how many startups have at least two of these titles spread across senior management? How many levels do they need with 30 people? :) )