A manager or a specialist who is higher. What is the difference between a leading specialist and the main one: description and differences. Who can call himself a manager

it is customary to indicate the position for which the applicant applies. The desired position is one of the most important points of the resume, which the employer pays attention to first of all, therefore, the wording of this column should be approached very responsibly. It is necessary to correctly indicate your status. This often causes difficulties for applicants, and very often there is a confusion of concepts, since many candidates for summary call themselves managers, in fact they are not.

Who can call himself a manager?

In countries with a highly developed market economy, managers are called professional managers with special education, often obtained in addition to the main one: engineering, legal, economic, etc. structural units(middle tier) or provide performance certain activities in business (grassroots).

Many resume candidates call themselves managers, in fact they are not.

Managers of the highest and middle level can be considered directors of enterprises, institutions and organizations and other line managers: heads of shops and other structural divisions, as well as functional departments.

As for the managers of the lower level, in the conditions of the development of commercial structures, small and medium-sized businesses, the need arose to determine their place and functional role as organizers of this activity, ensuring its compliance with the conditions external environment: economic, legal, technological and other requirements.

Thus, the difference between management levels lies in the scale, limits of authority, responsibility, and the degree of detail in the functions they perform.

Managers of the corresponding profile carry out the following functions: marketing, personnel management, logistics, advertising and information services, etc.

What's the difference?

In Western companies, a manager can only be the one who actually performs managerial functions, and the position of a sales specialist is often called a representative - that is, a representative, despite the fact that such an employee can lead quite a lot of clients, unlike his Russian colleagues. It often happens that when moving from a Russian company to western people are somewhat disappointed with the new interpretation of their position. Some manage, however, to agree that the "manager" is indicated on the business card, however, in the work book, and in staffing table, their position sounds like "representative".

Managers, unlike specialists, lead a group of employees and, based on the results of their work, provide reports to the top management of the company.

Likewise, one should distinguish between HR managers and specialists. personnel service... In the traditional sense, the personnel service is exclusively engaged in technical operations: maintaining documentation in accordance with Labor Code RF, taking into account working hours and personnel movements. But since HR are not involved in the adoption management decisions, they cannot influence the tactics and strategy of working with people. Therefore, in the conditions market economy where personnel becomes a powerful factor capable of accelerating or slowing down the development of the firm, this approach is completely untenable. In this situation, more and more attention is paid to the assessment, motivation and training of personnel. The internal specialization of the personnel service is expanding, requiring the assignment of certain functions to full-time employees. And the main tasks are the motivation of qualified specialists, the development corporate culture, as well as the formation of ways to select a competent team. And it is this type of personnel service that is currently the most promising. In organizations where the founders understand the importance and responsibility of a good HR service, its status is quite high, since its activities directly affect the efficiency of the enterprise and its future prospects. In many organizations, the head of such a human resources service will usually belong to the senior management team. And this is the HR manager.

Or take, for example, such a popular position as account manager, which is one of the ten most in-demand positions. What is the difference between a manager and a customer service specialist? Job responsibilities seem to be the same: sales development, effective interaction with customers and other departments of the company, participation in marketing and promotions... The difference is that managers, unlike specialists, necessarily lead a group of employees and, based on the results of their work, provide reports to the top management of the company.

What is the substitution of concepts used for?

The confusion of concepts such as "manager" and "specialist" occurred in the early 1990s, when the first joint ventures and private firms began to appear.

Unlike Western companies, Russian organizations have their own grading system and their own version of the staffing table.

“In our country, the confusion of concepts such as 'manager' and 'specialist' took place in the early 1990s, when the first joint ventures and private firms began to appear. - says the managing partner of the company MarksMan Inna Sumatohina... - The most common managerial position at that time, as well as now, was the position of a sales manager. However, when analyzed, a manager is a line or functional leader. Therefore, many employees holding this position in Russian organizations are specialists who manage the organization of only their own work process. In my opinion, such a substitution of concepts is used, first of all, to give a certain status and significance to a position in small Russian companies who find it difficult to compete with Western companies. "

The HR director of the HR holding fully agrees with this statement. ANKOR Evgeniya Tolkacheva: “The title of the position does not always reflect the essence of the work. Often employers deliberately make the names more sonorous - for representative purposes. It seems that it is more pleasant for the client to talk with the director than with the head of the department. " Comes to curiosities. “I personally know one firm in whose“ department ”there are two people - the director and his deputy, - says Inna Sumatohina. - There is also a bank where 39 out of 40 employees present in one room have the status of vice president, at least so it is written on the business cards. "

You should not try to improve your professional status by using "fancy" or borrowed words.

In the practice of Evgenia Tolkacheva, there was a funny case. The project management assistant was promoted. She was offered the position of "project management specialist", but she insisted on the position of "project manager". The employee was explained that this is wrong, since she does not manage people and is not responsible for the budget and deadlines, but implements technical support for project managers. Then the employee asked to write down the "junior project manager" in the work book. For girl this question turned out to be principled!

Reader "Encyclopedias of Career" Tatiana Zhuravleva on the contrary, she believes that the position of “manager” has discredited herself at the present time, therefore it is more prestigious to be called a specialist, and as an example she talks about the situation she witnessed: although large, but the staffing table was cut very easily and often), and the employee was offended and by hook or by crook tried to get in work book the entry "specialist".

Incorrectly specifying the position for which you are applying can lead to a loss of time spent on "unnecessary" interviews. Therefore, before starting to create a resume, you should carefully study the vacancies for which you want to apply, and only after that start drawing up a CV. You should not try to improve your professional status by using "fancy" or borrowed words. A decisive role in deciding on inviting a candidate for an interview is played, first of all, by his functional responsibilities and professional achievements. “Personally, when talking to a candidate, I rarely pay attention to the position. And the director to the director is different. The employer is interested in real work experience, team management, business volume, level of responsibility. And employees of Western companies have job titles that are even less close to reality, since their personnel officers are forced to translate from of English language, and is still more confused, - states Evgenia Tolkacheva. – Read the description carefully job responsibilities and description of completed projects,

When looking for a job with potential employers, people indicate the position they want to get on their resume. This is a very important part of the resume. The employer often turns his attention to this column first. Therefore, one should clearly understand the meaning of both the one and the other profession.

Many people have difficulties and confusion with the designation: in the resume they call themselves what, in fact, they are not. An incorrectly indicated position for which a person is applying is most likely just a waste of time. You should not try to make your status higher and more professional by using incomprehensible, but "fashionable" modern words.

This article describes the difference between two very popular professions these days. Let's try to understand what really are the differences between the position of a manager and a specialist.

Manager- a representative of the personnel performing management functions, a hired manager conducting his activities in a certain area of the company, an employee who negotiates directly with the client. There are lower, middle and top managers. The main task of a top-level manager is management, motivation, organization of the work process and control over subordinate personnel. The manager usually refers to the senior management team in the company. But do not forget that there are varieties of this profession. Top managers are heads of organizations, institutions, companies. Middle managers - heads of sectors, services, various departments. Managers of this level necessarily have subordinate employees, plan them work time, control the work process and increase its efficiency.

If top and middle managers include directors, heads of institutions, managers, then lower managers include almost any service personnel who have at least one subordinate.

Specialist- a person who has specialized training in a specific field: medicine, law, energy, logistics, economics, etc. A person who is qualified as a specialist must have proof of their profession. A state diploma is an excellent confirmation of this. For trouble-free employment, you may need certain recommendations, as well as work experience in a particular area.

Based on the foregoing, one can understand that a manager and a specialist are two completely different concepts that are not entirely correct to compare. Therefore, it will be correct to compare the position of a manager with that of a sales specialist, in the West this position is usually called representative - which means a representative, despite the fact that such a person is able to lead a large number of clients.

What are the differences?

Abroad, a manager is a person performing managerial functions, while a specialist is an ordinary representative of the company. There are people who want their position to sound different from the one they actually hold. They manage to agree that on their business card there was an inscription "manager", but in the labor book and in the staffing table the position they occupy sounds like a "representative".

Preparation is an essential part of competent work any person. A manager needs a higher education, while a specialist needs training at the technical school or college level.

An ordinary manager, as a rule, manages subordinates, while a specialist is often subordinate himself.

The manager is the person who leads certain staff, including specialists. All the work of a manager is to ensure a high-quality, competent and efficient organization of the work of specialists. Manager - a leader who acquires this status when he gets a job. A specialist is a very broad concept that can be called any student who has successfully confirmed his knowledge and received a diploma.

In conclusion, we can say the following. Each person should have a clear idea of the profession that he chooses for himself. Indeed, often at work you have to spend a third of your time. Therefore, the profession should not only be financially profitable, but also bring moral satisfaction.

Globalization and integration of cultures has led to the borrowing of not only words, but entire categories. The narrow specialist familiar to hearing was replaced by a universal manager, about whom legends and anecdotes are made. Let's try to figure out how significant the difference between these professions is and how exactly it is expressed.

Definition

Specialist- a person who has undergone special training and has knowledge in a particular field of activity (jurisprudence, medicine, management, programming). The level of competence is confirmed by a special document, as well as work experience and letters of recommendation. For employment, a specialist in most cases requires a state diploma.

Manager- a representative of the administrative staff performing managerial functions of the lower, middle or top level. In Russia, managers are also called employees of companies interacting directly with the employer (selling goods, cleaning, etc.). However, such a “proud” name only raises the status of dissonant professions, but has no special relation to reality.

Comparison

The most important difference between these categories is the scope of the concept. Specialist is an extremely broad name for an employee with special training. These include managers, since they require secondary specialized and higher education for successful work... A manager gains his status when he is hired. Any student who has successfully passed the state exam and defended his diploma can be considered a specialist.

Conclusions site

The scope of the concept. Specialist is a broader category that includes a manager.
Getting a status. They become a specialist immediately after successfully passing the final exams, and a manager upon admission to a position.
The level of preparation. Middle and top managers are required to receive higher education, while a specialist can be content with an average vocational training.
Interaction with the team. A classic manager always manages someone, while a specialist is predominantly subordinate.
Functions and competencies. In the classical sense, a manager must unite the team, serve as a conduit for the ideas of top management to the masses. A specialist is a faceless performer whose functions depend on a specific position.

The integration of cultures leads to the expansion of the Russian vocabulary. A specialist is often called a manager and vice versa. What are the similarities and differences between the two professions? Who can be called a manager and who can be called a specialist? Let's try to figure it out.

Specialist. Concept and definition

Specialist - a certified person who has undergone special training in higher education educational institution and owning deep knowledge in a specific area(accounting, banking, medicine, science, technology).

Highly qualified specialists are graduated from universities. Any student doing well at university can study at specific specialist... The level of competence is fixed in the state diploma. You can improve your qualifications through practical training, writing scientific articles, participating in grants. Work experience and letters of recommendation make it easier to find a job and help to take a high position.

The professional also defines special skills and knowledge. Earlier, before the creation of universities, there was no such thing as a specialist. They were called masters, experts, craftsmen. They passed on their knowledge from generation to generation, and this knowledge was not available to every person. Further, intellectuals (people of science and high culture) began to mature from among the masters.

What is a manager?

Manager - an authorized administrative officer performing managerial responsibilities the lowest, middle and top echelons. In other words, it is hired personnel to manage the activities of the enterprise.

In the United States of America and Europe, managers are successful leaders and managers with a college degree complementary to their basic profession. For example, having a medical profession, but wanting to become a clinic manager, you need to get a second higher education as a manager. The managers carry out high-quality competent control over the activities of the enterprise. Managers delegate responsibilities between employees (lower level), monitor the implementation of certain activities (middle level), develop long-term plans for doing business (top level).

In Russia, the status of a manager is regarded a little differently. It is believed that this is an ordinary employee of the company, a hired specialist in charge of an institution in any area of business. For example, a HR manager is an employee in charge of recruiting. A sales manager is a regular salesperson in a service industry or retail... Tourism Manager - An employee in charge of travel arrangements abroad. And even the cleanliness manager is an ordinary cleaning worker (cleaner). As you can see, these people have nothing to do with management and bosses. Many employers deliberately hide a regular position under a strong word so that employees more often respond to such vacancies. The real manager is not chosen, he is appointed!

In Russia, almost any employee can be called a manager. This is the case when the meaning of a borrowed word through integration is used incorrectly and not always in the right place. Therefore, confusion of concepts often arises.

What are the similarities between managers and specialists?

Although the two professions are different, you can find some similarities in their work.

In the activities of a specialist and a manager, there are common properties:

Both fulfill the tasks assigned to the enterprise.
Professional field of activity.
Both are empowered.
Working towards their goals.
They have higher professional education.
They work for the benefit of the enterprise, firm.

As you can see, the similarities are few and far between. V developed countries such as the United States of America, Germany, China, Japan, Canada, there are no similarities between these professions in the same way as a doctor and an actor. In Russia, on the contrary, job seekers do not know how to identify themselves in the resume: whether they are leading managers, or narrowly focused specialists. Sometimes it seems that a manager is a more modern and popular designation of oneself as a professional, and a specialist is outdated.

Differences between a specialist and a manager

A significant difference between these groups is coverage of concepts... Manager is a more voluminous concept. He, in an amicable way, should not only understand his profession, but also be able to manage labor resources, organize work, plan activities, understand the economic sphere of business. That is, he must have at least two higher educations: one as a specialist, the second as a manager.

A specialist is a professional with high knowledge in a specific field, having practical training, and an analytical mind. This can be a student who successfully defended his diploma and has deep knowledge. Or maybe an employee who already has a large practical experience in a certain narrowly focused area.

The main differences are:

Scope of the concept... The manager receives a more extensive, preferably two-level education.
Status... They become a specialist after passing state exams and defending a diploma, and a manager when they are appointed to a position.
Level of preparation... A manager is both a specialist and a manager, while a specialist can do with only one profession.
A responsibility... The manager is responsible for all production, the specialist is responsible only for his own activities.
Power... The manager has direct authority, as opposed to the specialist.

Julia Onika, business trainer

Today, the majority of Ukrainian businesses in their personnel policy focus on the formation of middle management for the most part internal resources of the company through the development and promotion of experienced professionals. This approach has several obvious advantages - it allows the business ...

Do not depend on the situation of a shortage of competent employees in the market
Get a trustworthy, motivated and loyal executive
Take on leadership positions employees with a good understanding of the specifics of business processes, who know formal and informal rules and the specifics of the activities of a particular company

However, understanding everything obvious advantages of this approach, we observe one significant limitation. The point is that yesterday's specialist is often not psychologically ready to fulfill the duties of a manager.

Is it easy to be a leader?

What is the reason for this unpreparedness? From our point of view, there are several reasons. First, most often the specialist's misconceptions about the role of a manager... Many successful professionals are convinced that the role of a manager is limited to issuing orders and participating in workshops with senior management. At the same time, they completely ignore the coordinating, motivational and controlling aspects of the leadership position. Secondly, the presence of certain stereotypes that distort, simplify or complicate reality. Here are some examples: “if you are well versed in the business, you can easily manage the people who are involved in this business”, “a leader is as easy as shelling pears, just set a goal and ask how its implementation is progressing” or “each person with higher education can be a good leader. " Such stereotypes sometimes prevent the employee from paying due attention and strength to the formation of necessary knowledge and skills, as well as psychological characteristics that would ensure his long-term effectiveness as a leader.

As a result, novice leaders may be ineffective in their activities. At best, they continue to work and think like specialists... At worst - to create by their actions situations in which there will be a place for unjustified expenses, a decrease in certain performance indicators, demotivated subordinates, etc. On a personal level, a novice leader will experience not the best feelings of his own incompetence. Indeed: his attempts to make independent decisions fail, he is afraid of losing credibility, causing dissatisfaction with the leadership with indecision or wrong decisions, doubts about the appropriateness of asking for help, including to his immediate supervisor.

Our practice shows that in order to avoid problems associated with psychological adaptation to new role, for novice managers it is often enough to understand that "specialist" and "manager" are two different roles, two different styles of behavior. In addition, the manager, in addition to his own functional tasks, adds managerial functional responsibilities. All this makes very clear distinctions in various fields of activity.

Let's take a closer look at the differences.

The nature of the work performed

Specialist performs highly specialized tasks, a kind of parts and fragments. Manager in addition to performing managerial functions and individual tasks, he coordinates all the fragments into a single whole.

Experience suggests that most aspiring leaders continue to focus on performing familiar functional tasks. At the same time, managerial responsibilities related to goal setting, planning, control, adaptation, training, motivation, etc. they are often ignored. V various businesses the required balance of functional and managerial tasks will be different. From our point of view, a novice manager should correctly distribute priorities as follows: devote 60% of the time to completing tasks as a highly professional specialist and spend 40% on exclusively managerial activities.

A responsibility

Specialist is solely responsible for its own actions. Manager, in addition to responsibility for his actions, takes responsibility for the actions of his subordinates.

Almost everyone who had to manage the work of a novice manager faced his unwillingness to take responsibility for the actions of his subordinates, which manifests itself in typical statements, for example: “I delegated this to a junior specialist, but for some reason he did not do it ...” or “ It's so difficult for me: my subordinates are somehow disorganized. " It is important for a manager to understand that it is he who is responsible for the results of the activities of his subordinates, as well as for the manifestations of their professional and personal qualities in the process of joint activities. The manager needs to explain to his subordinates the standards, rules, criteria within which their cooperation will proceed. This will allow subordinates to understand the boundaries of their responsibility.

Power

Specialist does not have power and does not have real powers. Manager has authority and power.

It is very common to observe how novice leaders abuse their own power. Most people cannot avoid the temptations that come with subordinates, manager status, and authority. How does it manifest? When interacting with subordinates, such a manager is guided by the principle “do it because I said” and usually does not explain the reasons for his instructions. The manager can demand the execution of deliberately absurd instructions, demonstrate "star" and conflicting behavior v working together with colleagues and subordinates. As a result of this behavior, the leader can greatly damage his reputation and relationships with subordinates.

Time management

Specialists, as a rule, have a number of clear tasks that are easily structured and among which it is quite easy to prioritize. Manager prioritizes own work and also helps to identify and agree on the often conflicting priorities in the work of their subordinates.

Very often, novice leaders become hostages to one of the extremes: they pay all attention to managing people, and perform their tasks after the end of the working day, when everyone has gone home, or - the second extreme - deprive subordinates of their attention, letting their tasks take their course, and do their own thing. functional. In this regard, it is difficult to overestimate the skills of planning and time management. There are a large number of tools and technologies, rules and principles of time planning, which, of course, will assist a novice leader in effectively organizing their own activities and helping their subordinates.

Making decisions

Specialists make decisions related to the method of doing their work, the distribution of their efforts, etc. Manager makes decisions about the timing of tasks, the allocation of resources, the possibility of assistance.

And here traps lie in wait for the young manager. One of them is to try to make everything, even small and insignificant decisions, trying to control the situation and keep abreast of all events. The second is the other way around: expect total independence from employees and let the situation take its course. In this aspect, it is important to understand that the degree of independence of subordinates varies and this difference is due to the difference in their experience and level of qualifications. These differences are intended to take into account an individual approach to setting goals and assessing the performance of subordinates.

Control

Specialist, due to the specifics of activities and powers, controls only a separate component of the process. Manager controls both the entire process and its individual components.

Here, the key is to understand that control is inherently a comparison of the expected result and the obtained one. Accordingly, in order to exercise control, it is necessary: an understanding of what result is expected and when and the existence of criteria or standards by which this result will be assessed. At the same time, these performance standards must be communicated to the performer, which facilitates his task and increases the chances of achieving the desired result. The main burden should fall on the intermediate control. And the better the work is done at the stages of intermediate control, the more likely it is to get the expected result during the final check.

Performance evaluation

Specialist evaluates its activities based on its own ideas about efficiency and effectiveness through the assessments of the head. Manager evaluates its own activities and the activities of subordinates based on the significance and importance of these cases for the unit and / or company.

As a rule, aspiring leaders are reluctant to evaluate their subordinates. This is largely due to the desire to please their employees and not cause confrontation with their assessments. During our management trainings, we always draw the attention of novice leaders to the need to internally abandon the desire to maintain relations with their subordinates at any cost. We also emphasize the importance of qualitative assessment- with the help of feedback or assessment of competencies, we insist on its objectivity, politeness, clarity and unambiguity.

Employee training

Specialists, as a rule, transfer knowledge to each other haphazardly, often informally. Manager, as a rule, must purposefully and systematically engage in the training and development of his subordinates.

In practice, most managers do not train subordinates, because, firstly, they do not consider it their direct responsibilities (believing that this is the work of HR or internal trainers), and secondly, they do not always know how to do this. Unfortunately, we have seen the following situation more than once: a novice manager believes that his subordinates themselves should take care of their training and development. At the same time, the subordinates are sure that since they are not made comments and are regularly paid financial rewards, then everything is fine with them and they do not bother trying to enrich their activities with new methods and forms. As a result, the company often experiences difficulties when it is necessary to carry out vertical or horizontal rotation of personnel or is forced to pay for expensive work to external services due to the low competence of its own specialists in this profile.

How to convey to the manager that he is now a manager?

To prevent and solve possible difficulties associated with the difficulties of adaptation of specialists to the role of a leader, we recommend that HR managers and internal trainers include in the current training programs for novice managers and development of specialists activities aimed at clarifying:

Distinctive features of the work of a specialist and a manager
Possible psychological reactions to difficult situations, ways to correct them and ways out of the situations that have arisen

From our point of view, this simple solution will significantly minimize the likelihood of managerial mistakes by novice managers, for which companies often have to pay an exorbitant price. The experience of companies that have followed these guidelines shows that when minimum costs for such additional training, it is possible to significantly accelerate the adaptation period of novice managers and significantly increase their efficiency.

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