On Paper Demotion.

[longtomsilver]

Mrs LTS has just had a title change from Director to Senior Manager bringing her role into line with the global business. Technically it's actually a promotion coming with a five figure pay rise.

I can't find the thread where someone asked if being a director of a business at ?32 is too young to be taken seriously and whether or not once friendly colleagues would become hostile towards them.

She raised the concern with the MD and he told her the title was meaningless and if she were to seek new employment in a few years time then she could call herself director of anything so long as she didn't take his job title

[Northerner]

... she could call herself director of anything so long as she didn't take his job title

Director of First Impressions ... (Receptionist).

[gilf]

Don't think it matters too much IMO. Director certainly makes somebody sound important but it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Director of ICI or Director of a small pencil factory in Bolton, two radically different things.

I was once a director of a company, don't think I have ever made mention of it.

Means sod all at the end of the day, you can can call me tea boy if I'm getting a five figure pay rise.

[SNACR]

I've run businesses since my early twenties and I've never felt I had an issue with people taking me seriously to the point of worrying about it.

[Bruce Banner]

Mrs LTS has just had a title change from Director to Senior Manager bringing her role into line with the global business. Technically it's actually a promotion coming with a five figure pay rise.

I can't find the thread where someone asked if being a director of a business at ?32 is too young to be taken seriously and whether or not once friendly colleagues would become hostile towards them.

She raised the concern with the MD and he told her the title was meaningless and if she were to seek new employment in a few years time then she could call herself director of anything so long as she didn't take his job title

I assume from the above that she had the title of director without a seat on the board, in which case, as her MD said, it was just a ******** title anyway and doesn't matter a toss except perhaps to her ego. If she was a "proper" director and has been asked to resign her seat on the board it's another matter.

[Rozza]

I assume from the above that she had the title of director without a seat on the board, in which case, as her MD said, it was just a ******** title anyway and doesn't matter a toss except perhaps to her ego. If she was a "proper" director and has been asked to resign her seat on the board it's another matter.

This whole job title thing amuses me no end, I have a friend who is a director for one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, except he isnt actually a director its just his job title. He thinks it makes him all important and liable for stuff, but actually hes just a grunt like the rest of us

I'm of the opinion my job title can even be "captain utterly useless" so long as I keep getting a bigger pay check

[longtomsilver]

Don't think it matters too much IMO. Director certainly makes somebody sound important but it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Director of ICI or Director of a small pencil factory in Bolton, two radically different things.

I was once a director of a company, don't think I have ever made mention of it.

Means sod all at the end of the day, you can can call me tea boy if I'm getting a five figure pay rise.

Well you have now

Interesting examples you chose. My father was on the board of directors at an ICI subsidiary, that was until he suffered a serious nervous breakdown in the early eighties and was forced out by the rest of the board. Thereafter he worked as MD for a plastic mouldings factory and then a metal fastening factory until he retired on ~£25k per annum, I was earning much more as a clerk in my first proper job in London. Gives you an idea of the scale of operations he worked at (pencil factory).

His two year payout was enough to clear his mortgage and we kept the house after bankruptcy (the spell of unemployment/mental health issues) so other than a few years of hardship and relatively low pay, we did alright.

[longtomsilver]

I assume from the above that she had the title of director without a seat on the board, in which case, as her MD said, it was just a bullshit title anyway and doesn't matter a toss except perhaps to her ego. If she was a "proper" director and has been asked to resign her seat on the board it's another matter.

She's not on the board of directors, I've never claimed her to be. She is held in high regard by the company and that is reflected with a healthy six figure salary. Money talks.

[LiveinHope]

I want to devise a way to get everyone at my workplace to send me an e-mail.

'Cos I reckon the number of people who have put "Director of" in their e-mail signature outnumbers the people there are to be 'Directed'

[Monkey]

I got promoted into a new role for the company, i and because of they asked what job title i wanted? I told then i dont care just as long as i get a (in my opinion) a decent wage. They couldnt understand that i just simply wasnt bothered by my job title.

[LiveinHope]

I got promoted into a new role for the company, i and because of they asked what job title i wanted? I told then i dont care just as long as i get a (in my opinion) a decent wage. They couldnt understand that i just simply wasnt bothered by my job title.

In my experience, people who are bothered by the importance of their title usually aren't bothered about doing a good job.

[Fully Detached]

When I was a child my mother always very proudly told me how to answer anybody who asked what my dad did - "He's a company director" was the answer I had to give.

I've been a company director for the last 10 years, and the title means absolutely nothing to me. I've come to the conclusion that some people define themselves by their job titles, and some people judge others by their job titles. Generally speaking, I find that those are the people who don't really get what is important and what isn't.

[R K]

I knew I'd made it when I got a chair with arm rests. Strictly controlled.

When you're on the greasy pole in large, hiearchical organisations these little signals of progress can become stupidly important.

EDIT:

Even pay itself is often no more than to do with social hierarchy and 'respect'.

The Ancient Greeks had the same word for 'ransom' and 'honour'. If you were kidnapped (a regular occurrence, even a business model in those times) and the ransom set wasn't sufficiently high for what you thought was your standing was then you were dishonoured.

It is the same with pay. that is why 'differentials' and looking jealously across the office at what others do and their remuneration is so important.

Being permitted to p1ss in the CEOs toilet is my favourite.

Everything else is bullsh1t.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

I want to devise a way to get everyone at my workplace to send me an e-mail.

'Cos I reckon the number of people who have put "Director of" in their e-mail signature outnumbers the people there are to be 'Directed'

Meaningless really. You can be a manager without having any direct reports. A product manager for example might manage all aspects of a particular product but not have anyone working for them. Directors similar.

[MrPin]

I knew I'd made it when I got a chair with arm rests. Strictly controlled.

Ha ha, I had a desk with two sets of drawers, and my own telephone extension once, much to the annoyance of a colleague, as only managers got that, and I wasn't a manager.

[LiveinHope]

Meaningless really. You can be a manager without having any direct reports. A product manager for example might manage all aspects of a particular product but not have anyone working for them. Directors similar.

Not really meaningless where I work. "Director of the xxxx Group", "Director of the xxxx project", when each time the only person involved is the self-appointed 'Director', but I guess when you're sending e-mails to people who don't know you, it may make you feel important. Of course, when people know you, you look a 'right one'

[Bruce Banner]

She's not on the board of directors, I've never claimed her to be. She is held in high regard by the company and that is reflected with a healthy six figure salary. Money talks.

Then, in answer to your original post, the title doesn't matter.

[DTMark]

With large companies - for instance in retail - the job of, say, "Merchandiser" may imply certain skills and when I worked in this, would have involved similar duties, so other retailers could recognise the title.

Even so, there's a world of difference between being the Merchandiser of the greetings cards category and the merchandiser of the toys category - range, budget, number of reports, and so on, discoverable at the interview stage.

In a small company of half a dozen people with two programmers, one is probably the "Head of IT". Again this isn't going to involve the same breadth of responsibility as the "Head of IT" at Google.

I suspect the titles are a little meaningless.

[Gigantic Purple Slug]

Context is everything in job descriptions.

Back in the day in the UK only officers of the company were called Directors. In the US people were often called Directors even though they weren't officers of the company. This has probably spread to the UK over the past few years, where people now have the title Director without being officers of the company.

An officer of the company (what most people think of as a Director in the UK) has particular legal responsibilities the details of which are lengthy and wikipedia can provide a better description than me.

To incorporate a company costs next to nothing and you can incorporate that company with yourself as an officer (director). So in that sense anyone can become a an officer of a company or company director at low cost with little barriers to them doing so.

However if you have been appointed an officer of a large business, then it implies that either the shareholders or executives of that business (probably both) had significant confidence in you to do the role (company officers hold considerable power), so anyone who has been appointed in such a position has status by virtue of this.

It is possible to be held legally responsible as a director or officer of a company even if you have not formally agreed to the role. This is known as being a defato director or officer, and is something to be careful of. Often as a defacto director you incur much of the liability without any of the benefits that a normal director would get.

[Bruce Banner]

I'm not sure if it's still the case. but there used to be a subtle difference in the title for courtesy directors who were not officers of the company. For example "Marketing Director" would mean an officer of the company with a seat on the board, whilst "Director of Marketing" would be a senior management position without a seat on the board.

Back in the day, the specification of you company car was often more important than your job title. If you had a vinyl roof on your company Granada you were looked up to by those who didn't.

[longtomsilver]

Then, in answer to your original post, the title doesn't matter.

That's the point I was trying to make, convoluted as it were.

[longtomsilver]

Ha ha, I had a desk with two sets of drawers, and my own telephone extension once, much to the annoyance of a colleague, as only managers got that, and I wasn't a manager.

Haha.

When I worked for a Japanese bank my manager dumped the stationary catalogue on my desk and told me I was in charge. As an authorised signatory this was a blank cheque an I became the go to person for anything with 'executive' in the item description from chairs to staplers. A pretty female colleague asked me to get her a fridge to go under her desk and the manager wasn't too happy about that. She kept the fridge but I lost that responsibility. So all had executive chairs (my sign off value at the time was up to the value of £750 or £2,000 with a manager as secondary signatory or £25k from a director).

* not a Board Director I might add only in name.

[Exiled Canadian]

Back in the days when i was an employee my boss unashamedly to told that they'd promoted me as they couldn't pay much of a bonus that year.

They had to do this, as a poor bonus would be a signal to start looking for another job in the absence of a title bump.

Shows how meaningless titles are......

[Bruce Banner]

Back in the days when i was an employee my boss unashamedly to told that they'd promoted me as they couldn't pay much of a bonus that year.

They had to do this, as a poor bonus would be a signal to start looking for another job in the absence of a title bump.

Shows how meaningless titles are......

Indeed, when I was in business I didn't put any title on my calling cards, just my name.

[Greg Bowman]

Mrs LTS has just had a title change from Director to Senior Manager bringing her role into line with the global business. Technically it's actually a promotion coming with a five figure pay rise.

I can't find the thread where someone asked if being a director of a business at ?32 is too young to be taken seriously and whether or not once friendly colleagues would become hostile towards them.

She raised the concern with the MD and he told her the title was meaningless and if she were to seek new employment in a few years time then she could call herself director of anything so long as she didn't take his job title

The only title Director that matters is at companies house as an appointed Director and that probably adversely frankly with all the corporate governance.

Beyond this as the boss says make up your own title