Comments on: The Superbowl of Title Inflation

By: michaelchanrubio

michaelchanrubio — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:10:01 +0000

I once had to use “HR Officer” while the role was for the HR Manager, when I was onboarded, just so as to avoid ruffling the feathers of the incumbents (who were staff level employees who had to stand in for the role I was being hired for).

They’re gone now, and I just call functional leads “Leads” no matter whether they’re in supervisory or managerial job/salary grades.

By: Jane Watson

Jane Watson — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:43:30 +0000

Thanks for your comments Carol. I really like how you put this: “Titles represent something a little deeper, in terms of how the organization views empowerment”. I think you’re right- that titles can be manifestations of underlying beliefs organizations hold about whether influence and authority are mostly earned through relationship building and expertise, or bestowed through promotion or favor from ‘the senior powers that be’ (i.e. legitimate power). That is a very fundamental difference with far-reaching consequences. Your example represents what some might perceive to be a subtle difference between two organizations, but clearly had deeper meaning and effect.

By: Carol Anderson

Carol Anderson — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:11:56 +0000

Love the A. I. job….what a chuckle. I went from a bank to healthcare. Everyone knows the joke about banks and title inflation…its true. And yes, when I moved to healthcare, they were concerned that I would be unhappy without the title I had in banking as healthcare titled a very limited number of officers.

What was interesting is that banking set up titled individuals as officers of the company with privileges of purchasing and signing on behalf of the company. It certain made things convenient, and there was a sense of equality in the titling process. In healthcare, purchasing privileges were retained at the officer level, and you could tell the pecking order of the business units and staff groups by what level of officer was their senior leader.

While I always thought the proliferation of titles in banking silly, the empowerment that accompanied the titles wasn’t, nor was the equality with which titles were bestowed. While I didn’t give a hoot about the title when I moved to healthcare, the process foretold a lack of trust in leadership that directors had to have signature from a VP to purchase equipment or programs that were approved already in a budget system.

I think titles are examples of artifacts in Schein’s culture model, but it isn’t as simple as looking at the titles to see what they say about the culture. Titles represent something a little deeper, in terms of how the organization views empowerment. The disclaimer here is that this only represents two banks and one healthcare system….