Executive positions are typically higher than management on the hierarchy. Executive and manager are often used interchangeably. However, for accuracy, it is important to distinguish between the two. According to Indeed, “a manager is a person who supervises or administers the people and resources of an organization.” “An executive is who implements the strategic plans and policies of an organization at the highest level.” Let’s take a look at what each of these mean.
Executive- Executives are often members of high level positions known as the C-level or C-suite in a company; for example, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), the COO (Chief Operations Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer). The duties of these executives are to control aspects that are essential operations but also to develop the plans and operations laid out by management.
Manager – Managers can be low, middle or senior in level within the company. Size and structure of a company determines the levels of these positions. Managers are typically in charge of employees and operations. For example, in a large retail store such as The Body Shop, on a store level you have store managers and assistant store managers that look after the employees and the ordering and receiving of inventory. You will also have District Store Managers that are responsible for the operations of all the stores in their given regions.
Using The Body Shop as an example, management is seen on a smaller scale when it comes to the individual stores, but the larger company on a whole has an executive team at “head office” which runs the aspects of the whole organization. These executives manage the entire brand from product development to marketing and sales strategies to its financial operations. Head office gives the directives to the managers at the store level and performs checks to ensure each store is performing the way it is instructed. These different levels of management allows each store to have the same customer experience no matter which location the customer is shopping in. This cohesion allows the brand to be uniform and predictable which maximizes sales and customer satisfaction.