Some time ago ago I posted a blog about the proliferation of
titles in business and I had a really valuable comment from TV presenter and speaker,
Art Halai. Arti suggested that there is
much more to the use of titles in business and for that matter in general and
it is a subject that would repay some discussion.
Lee Thayer, noted US speaker
and author, considers that the most important factor for people in the business
is the role description. Please note:
NOT the JOB description which is too restrictive.
Logically then if the role description has been defined
accurately, theoretically there is no need for a title as such. Of course that
is not the case in general and titles of all kinds abound especially in the
public sector where perceived status can be considered as a reward.
The question is why do people need to have a title? Is it so that others know what they are there
for, could it possibly be for reassurance that there function is important or
is the basic fact that some people need a title to give them status.
When I started in business a long time ago, status was
relatively easy to define. It rested on
which canteen you ate in, where you parked your car and did the parking slot
have your name on it, was your name (and
title) on the door of your office and did your title express your seniority
in the company. Question: do you actually have an office?
The matter of canteens is an interesting one. I went at one stage to a subsidiary company
on secondment for a period of a few months and was astonished to find that I
had been allocated a seat in the mess; not, you will note the canteen. I discovered that lunch in the mess followed
a strict routine with a defined pecking order.
Following an obligatory dry sherry, the senior director
carved the joint, which was a fixture every day by the way, and seating at the
table defined where you were in the aforesaid packing order.
It was all a little surprising to me although I have to say
that I soon dropped into the very pleasant routine. However, what on earth had it to do with the
effective running of the business?
The fact is that it was all a matter of visible status. When you were invited to join the mess it
said that you had arrived and were accepted as important, admittedly in the
very small world of that company.
It stands to reason that they were also fixated on title
because a title would tell the world who you were and what you did in the
company. Status was all-important and
because it was a small company (in a
small town as well) by comparison with the patent group, they felt that
they needed the reassurance of a splendid title.
In essence we need to decide whether a title is merely a
status symbol or a genuine assistance to the smooth operation of the
business. Does it add or detract from
the individual?
The question then is: what is more important, the title or
the role? Even more so, what is the
purpose of the role and how does it fit into the culture and the strategy of
the business? Moreover does it fit into
the above?
Taken all in all, it seems that titles can be used as a
description of what the role implies while no frequently actually describing
the role which outs us into a raft of complications. I worked for a while at Renold Limited where
all “job titles” were descriptive of the function and that made life simpler to
some extent at least.
In the end the best solution seemed to be stick around and
you will suddenly discover who to see if you needed something which we called
experience.
That wonderful book, The Puritan Gift by Ken and Will Hopper
describes it as Domain Knowledge and that encapsulates the whole problem. The longer you are with us the more
knowledgeable you become about how the business works and accordingly a short
period of acclimatisation in all significant department of the company can save
a vast amount of time during the working week.
In general, I think that I rest my case. However hard we try titles, role descriptions
and so on will exhibit their amazing ability to stick around so accept the
inevitable and go with the flow. It will
win in the end anyway!
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