A company’s senior management team is made up of both a vice president and a director. Depending on the size and hierarchical structure of a company, these positions can vary significantly, but vice presidents typically hold positions above directors. So a vice president could be a director’s boss.
In business hierarchies, presidents and CEOs typically occupy the highest positions. These executives are in charge of understanding the market and establishing long-term objectives for the entire business. Vice presidents, who represent the following level, have slightly fewer responsibilities that are concentrated on a particular area of the company as a whole. Each of these executives considers where the business is now and where it is headed in order to determine where it needs to go.
Imagine that a president is in charge of a whole fleet, whereas a vice president is in charge of just one ship. The strategic roles are similar. The vice president is in charge of all matters pertaining to his specific ship or unit, including finances, planning, resources, and operations. Although they specifically address the capabilities and requirements of whichever unit he is in charge of, whether it be manufacturing, information technology, or sales, his strategies must align with the president’s strategies. The vice president tracks financial and operational performance in accordance with unit and corporate strategies by receiving reports from directors, and then presents those reports to the president.
Directors do just what their title says – they direct. While vice presidents are strategic, directors are more tactical. Directors aren’t hands-on workers, but they still need to be aware of what’s going on in the field, on the factory floor, or in any other area they are in charge of managing. A director is in charge of workloads, results, and resources, including staff and finances. The director gives the go-ahead for necessary actions to be taken to remove barriers to success when risks are identified or issues arise.
A director typically has a team of managers who are in charge of the actual work being done. A manufacturing company’s director of production may assign a manager to each production line and work shift. A director of quality’s management team may prioritize testing and inspections, ongoing improvement, and problem-solving. Employees report the specifics of their daily activities to managers, who then summarize them for directors, who then look for key performance indicators and report their findings higher up the chain to vice presidents.
Debra Kraft, a career content writer with more than 25 years of corporate experience, previously taught English. She is a senior member of the American Society for Quality and holds a senior management position with a major automotive supplier. Her specialties include IT business analysis, Lean, ERP, and quality auditing for corporations.
What are a director’s responsibilities?
Depending on the department a director oversees, their duties may change. Here are some common responsibilities that a director may have:
What is a director?
In a company, a director is typically the department or division head. A director manages and guides a team of managers and workers in a specific department of an organization. Large businesses, for instance, might have a director of information technology, production, marketing, and human resources. Smaller businesses typically only have one director, but as a company grows, its executive hierarchy may change based solely on its needs.
Although this may not always be the case, the director title typically refers to the initial stage or lowest level in an executive team. Some large companies may have directors at more than one level, such as an associate and senior director. In this case, the senior director might be in charge of a larger portion of the organization and have more responsibilities than a typical director. These titles are typically based on rank, with the executive director or director of operations holding the highest director position.
What are a vice president’s responsibilities?
The duties of a vice president may change depending on an organization’s needs. A vice president may perform the following regular tasks:
What is a VP?
Depending on whether a company has a president and a CEO, the vice president is an executive who is either second or third in the chain of command. In most businesses, the same person holds the positions of CEO and president.
Vice presidents oversee the overall operations of the company, institution, university, organization, agency, or government branch. By implementing new policies and tactics within the organization that are consistent with the board, a VP advances the objectives and goals of the board of directors. They also interact with the public more frequently than other executives, and they work hard to maintain the goodwill of their company.
Each leader who is in charge of a division may receive a vice president designation from some larger companies. A company might, for instance, have a vice president of sales and customer service in addition to a vice president of finance. Depending on the size and requirements of the company, these large organizations may also have ranking titles for vice presidents, such as associate VP, assistant VP, VP, senior VP, and executive VP.
Average salary for directors and VPs
Directors and vice presidents may earn more or less money on average depending on the size of the company they work for, the sector they are in, where they live, and their level of expertise. Here are the salaries you can expect from each position:
Director vs. VP
Although directors and vice presidents may have similar responsibilities for leading and managing their teams, most of their roles differ according to the amount of authority each holds. Following are a few distinctions between directors and vice presidents:
Who they report to
Directors typically report to the vice president, while vice presidents typically report to the company’s president or CEO.
Goals and objectives
Mid-level managers are advised by directors on how to achieve sales goals and other objectives. Vice presidents, in contrast, assist in setting the goals and objectives and then communicate these to the directors.
Budgets
Directors create departmental budgets, which vice presidents then approve or reject based on a range of financial factors that have an impact on the company.
Business strategies
Vice presidents create business strategies for their organizations. Directors must then implement these tactics and provide feedback on how they are getting along with managers and other employees.
Who they manage
VPs may oversee the entire business or organization in small to midsize companies. Directors, in contrast, might only be in charge of one division, like sales or customer service.
Board of directors
Directors typically don’t meet with the board unless their presence is requested, whereas vice presidents regularly meet with the board.
Collaboration
On a variety of projects, vice presidents work with outside vendors and contractors, whereas directors typically work more closely with people inside the company.
Making decisions
If the president or CEO is not present, vice presidents may act as the company’s decision-maker. Important decisions must be made by directors as well, but they typically need to be approved by vice presidents or other executives before they can be implemented.
