The responsibilities of CEOs and General Managers can be similar to some extent, but they are very distinct roles. A CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is responsible for managing the entire company, while a General Manager is usually entrusted with the task of managing a particular department of the company. A CEO stands at the top-most position in the hierarchy of leadership positions and is, therefore, superior to a General Manager.
Before we dive deeper into the pool of differences between the roles of the CEO and General Manager, let’s first understand what these two positions actually represent.
Roles & responsibilities of General Manager:
A general manager is an important member in a large organization who manages an entire department or a unit of employees or an entire segment of the company. Not every company employs general managers. The role of General Manager is most common in multinational corporations that have thousands of outlets spread in different countries. On the other hand, this role might not be required in smaller enterprises. General Managers are required to perform a variety of duties depending on the type of industry they work for.
The duties of a general manager might differ from company to company, but most of them are more or less the same. Here’s the list of universal duties of a general manager:
- One of the crucial responsibilities for all general managers is supervising the employees of the department headed by them.
- Ensuring the availability of financial/ human resources and other equipment required by the employees to perform their tasks.
- Serving as a link between the employees of his department and the top level executives of the company.
- Engaging with customers to assess the performance of their company.
- Developing strategies to improve productivity and to increase revenue.
- Evaluating the performance of employees assigned to them and reporting their achievements or failures to the top-level executives.
Roles & responsibilities of a CEO:
A CEO (Chief Executive Officer), is a company’s highest ranking employee. Some CEOs are the original founders of their business, while others are highly experienced employees promoted into the role. Many times, the CEOs are directly hired by the companies.
Most of the responsibilities of CEOs are similar in every kind of organization. Common responsibilities of a CEO are:
- Leadership is the most important skill required for a CEO as he/she is responsible for leading the entire company.
- The CEO should be able to understand the “big picture” clearly and formulate strategies that can help the company to achieve greater heights.
- Responsible for making high-level decisions for their organization.
- Responsible for reporting to the company’s board of directors, usually regarding
- CEOs collaborate with the other c-level executives in their organization to ensure that all the departments are working in full bloom. For example, CEOs collaborate with CFOs to provide fiscal oversight.
Let’s run down through some key differences between a general manager and a CEO.
General manager vs. CEO
Qualifications
- Most general managers have a bachelor’s degree in a subject related to business such as business administration, economics or any other similar major.
- On the other hand, CEOs often have advanced degrees, usually, a Master’s of Business Administration.
Pay scale
- According to Indeed, general managers make, on average, $54,350 per year
- While average salary of a CEO is, $117,360 per year.
Experience
- Since the CEO is the highest ranking individual in an organization, they are required to have considerable work experience before being able to work as a CEO.
- While general managers are mostly younger and have less experience than CEOs
Hope we were successful in making you understand the difference between a CEO and a General Manager. Do not stop here! Satiate your curiosity by reading more such blogs.
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By: Pragya Singh
Growth Central VC