When are too many executives too much?

[aprilchem]

I don't think I have the right to judge large corporations that I don't intimately know the workings of. I know that my own workplace (higher education) folks love to complain about the number of administrators we have, yet every administrator I know (and I know most of them quite well) is working him or herself to death. They are each doing the work of more than one person, yet the college is afraid to add someone to even the balance of work because of the complaints of people who don't really understand what an administrator's job is.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Whenever there is an income disparity between the employees! If the CEO is making $1 million a year, there is absolutely no way that the workers should be going to the food bank and swapping their children's outgrown clothes...

 

[amberpi]

Excluding retail banks, I'd say more executives are better. Have you ever tried to get something significant signed on a Friday afternoon if you don't have signatory authority?

 

[soccerdad72]

Vice Presidents at the big banks are most definitely not executives. It is a title given for not even what would be considered a middle level management position. Banks are not a good example for a basis of this discussion, IMO.

I agree - banking is the one industry that is widely known for passing out titles over salary.

 

[DopeyDame]

Well - I was really thinking of the case where middle managers are basically given a fancy but generally meaningless executive title. Obviously a bank is going to need branch managers, loan officers, and middle managers, but when there are a half dozen "VPs" at every bank branch it does seem to devalue the worth of having such a title.

Ages ago someone told me that one of the reasons you often have a lot of VPs is that when you get an irate customer, they feel "special" if a VP calls them back, rather than "just" the branch manager - even if it's the exact same person. So it's a customer service ploy, sort of, to give customer-interfacing (or business development) people a lofty title.

 

[longboard55]

My daughter works for a major fashion retailer that does billions in sales, they virtually have no executive management at all other than the president and his wife. They make a few mistakes occasionally but can get styles out faster than anyone

 

[pigletto]

You have too many executives when they get in the way of people doing their jobs. Many companies have too many bosses and not enough staff.

My husband works for our municipality. In the office where he works, there are more management than regular staff. Several “managers” don’t have any staff at all. It’s ludicrous. However, they are also very tight on raises or any use of taxpayer funds and always running at a deficit and short on staff.

 

[longboard55]

My husband works for our municipality. In the office where he works, there are more management than regular staff. Several “managers” don’t have any staff at all. It’s ludicrous. However, they are also very tight on raises or any use of taxpayer funds and always running at a deficit and short on staff.

OMG cities, my wife worked for a city, see if I can remember that management trail. Mayor, city manager, assistant city manager, department manager, assistant manager, superivisor, superintendent, then when you finally get down to the person that actually did something it was usually an underpaid part time or a contractor. They spent most of their time giving each other reviews

 

[bcla]

Well - maybe I should have titled this "Why do banks have so many VPs?" At this point it is a bit late to change the title since there's been discussion beyond just banks. I did find one article on it after I posted that jokes that half the population of Charlotte (which is a large banking center) has the title "vice president".

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/26103/your-charlotte-bank-vp-title-doesnt-really-mean-much/

Still - at one of my first full-time job it did seem rather odd that they handed out so many VP titles when they were just middle managers. The founder of the company was the sole "senior vice president" in the entire organization.

 

[Marchand63]

I forgot my cover sheets on my TPS reports so all my bosses are mad at me!

 

[SC Minnie]

When you have no idea what they're VP over because they titles seem made up. It seems like we add VPs every time you turn around and most people here have no idea what they do. We have VPs that report to VPs. These are AVPs reporting to VP or EVPs, they are all VPs. It is so strange.