Or, "Bye-Bye, Minister of Dollars & Sense,
Hello Finance Manager"
The Chief Reality Officer has gotten a reality check. The Architect
of Fun? Chances are he's also been doled a dose of seriousness.
And they aren't the only ones.
According to benefits and human resource consulting firm Watson
Wyatt Worldwide, exotic-sounding job titles and job descriptions
used in e-commerce are becoming a thing of the past. Indicating
that that the weeding-out of weird titles can be attributed in part
to businesses maturing, Watson Wyatt notes the change in tone also
has to do with the changing times.
You Can Call Me Accountant
Doug Ross, a partner for Watson Wyatt Worldwide, says the process
of returning to mainstream titles started in the United States in
2000, and coincided with the dot-com fallout. However, Ross, who
is based in the United Kingdom, points out seriousness in terms
of job titles now appears to be global in scope. "In our preparatory
research for a survey of e-commerce employee remuneration, we've
discovered that more and more e-business employees now have mainstream
job titles such as marketing director, finance manager, or systems
analyst," he says.
Abandoning Aliases
Ross says that the firm didn't set out to study titles; it was
originally trying to collect information on compensation when it
encountered an obstacle.
"One of the problems we found was screwball titles," he says. "The
Chief People Motivator -- is that an HR position or is it a leadership
position?" The issue became how to compare titles when their purpose
was unclear, Ross explains.
However, the problem was short-lived. "What we saw, as the survey
progressed, was that as the dot-coms crashed, the weird titles disappeared,"
says Ross.
When conducting its research, Watson Wyatt found the following
funky job titles were among those used in e-commerce:
Titles Indicative of Change
The abandonment of odd titles is a sign of businesses maturing,
says Ross. But, he says, businesses aren't the only ones growing
up. Many managers are aging and maturing, as they are confronted
with the responsibilities of families, mortgages, and aging parents.
"They're looking for some stability," says Ross. He notes in this
regard a title is important. "It tells you where are you are in
the pecking order." For the same reason, he says, titles are negotiable.
However, Ross also points out that the new business climate includes
companies seeking to establish a concept of entrepreneurialism,
which will allow employees to work in an organization as if they
own and run it. He questions how titles will coincide with this
kind of environment.
Who Values a Title
Ross also questions the value of titles as a benchmark of accomplishment.
"It would be interesting to test to see if job titles were more
important to high performers or non-high performers," he says. "Most
high performers that I know don't care about titles." Where 10 to
15 years ago the question may have been �What is your title?” says
Ross, today the question is, �What is your span of control?” He
gives the example of a general manager of a division who may have
responsibility for 20,000 employees. According to Ross, today there
is a higher impact on driving value. "Titles clearly don't demonstrate
and aren't linked to shareholder value within an organization,"
he says.
Change in Structure, Change in Perception
Furthermore, Ross indicates, in entrepreneurial environments, the
traditional hierarchy is sometimes replaced by mentor relationships.
The employee seeks out a senior person for help that will enable
him or her to add value to an organization. In these kinds of environments,
Ross predicts titles may lose some of their relevance. "Based on
what I'm seeing, people want to belong to communities, and they
want to understand how they'll progress, and so the measuring stick
may change in the future," he says.
Ross says the basic belief that people want to do meaningful work
and be treated fairly will contribute to the creation of a new benchmark.
"The conversation at the cocktail party a year ago was the number
of shares you have. The conversation in my parents' day was did
you get the promotion or the title -- that was the measuring stick,"
he says. He believes experience is probably the next benchmark.
"I think people are quite conscious of what titles mean. But it's
not the title -- it's the experience behind it," he explains. He
cites the title �vice president of marketing” as an example, and
notes how size of firm and span of control are more relevant than
position title. Likewise, in this instance, determining if it's
a marketing position or a sales position is necessary. In addition,
Ross points out many jobs have fundamentally changed. "People are
now responsible for thinking of the business as an owner/operation
rather than as just a cog," he says.
Change in HR Titles
Similarly, he notes how the HR position has gone from vice president
of personnel, a fairly transactional position, to director or vice
president of human resources. Ross says he anticipates the current
title will change yet again -- this time to vice president of human
capital. When it does, he says, the job too will change; it will
require a business leader who happens to focus on maximizing the
value invested in the people. "The mindset of personnel will be
left in the dust." Ross notes that inside the HR community people
may want to cling to titles as a defensive mechanism, says they
will not have the skills to deliver because the positions will change.
He also says title changes will serve as a marketing tool for HR
to demonstrate how it can drive value more than it has in the past,
and that titles will change to influence the internal audience.
According to Ross, as part of the evolution of job and title, it
will be the HR person who will have the head seat at the table in
the future, together with the finance director.
For more information: Doug Ross, partner, Watson Wyatt Worldwide,
44-1737-274-353, email Doug.Ross@eu.watsonwyatt.com;
Watson Wyatt Worldwide http://www.watsonwyatt.com.
A version of this article first appeared on HR/Wire.
