Understanding Job Grades: Is an Officer Higher Than an Executive? Can You Help?

Dear, I have a confusion regarding which grade is higher - officer or executive. Can someone provide me with information on the grades such as peons, clerks, etc.?

Grades and designations are mere words that describe some concepts that an organization holds as far as its Human Resource is concerned.

In common parlance, in HR, one should understand that a "designation" should be indicative of the function or the job that the holder is expected to perform, and a "grade" should describe the salary/wage, allowances, and other benefits, if any, that all occupants of the grade will be eligible to receive.

It can happen that one designation may cover a multiplicity of grades depending on either the seniority or competence of the individuals holding the designation, and it is also possible that there can be many designations to which the same grade may apply.

For example, the designation "Executive" may cover grades E-1, E-2, E-3, etc., and one grade, SS-1, may be applied to various designations like Peons, Drivers, Assistants, and so on.

The point to remember is that the hierarchy of both the grades and of designations represents, always, the order of significance the organization attaches to them.

Both have to be established in tune with the organization's philosophy, culture, capacity, and organization of work (i.e., functionalization) as well as the organization of employment (i.e., emolument structure and levels of significance to the organization).

I hope this reply clears your confusion about the words and the concepts. If it doesn't, raise further queries. I would be glad to respond!

Regards,

Samvedan

December 5, 2004

Hi,

As a practical answer to your query, Designation and Grades are different. See the difference below:

Designation:
- General Manager
- Dy. General Manager
- Assistant General Manager
- Sr. Manager
- Manager
- Dy. Manager
- Asst. Manager
- Executive
- Officer
- Assistant
- Office Support Staff (Office Assistant/Peon/Driver)
- Highly Skilled Worker
- Skilled Worker
- Semi-Skilled Worker
- Unskilled Worker

You can further grade them based on experience and salary. For example, take the Executive position:

- E1 Executive Senior Grade 10-12 yrs exp 15000-20000
- E2 Executive Grade I 8-10 yrs exp 10000-15000
- E3 Executive Grade II 6-8 yrs exp 7500-10000
- E4 Executive Grade III 4-5 yrs exp 5000-7500

When recruiting candidates, you can grade them based on experience and salary. Each job position can be graded similarly.

Dr. Thomaskutty

I really doubt whether there is any position called executive. The Executive cadre includes all positions from Manager and General Managers to top executives like Directors. Normally, in companies, we have positions like officer, senior officer, assistant Manager, Deputy Manager, Manager, followed by Deputy General Manager, then General Manager, etc.

Even Marketing Executives or Management Trainees could be below an officer or officer cadre, and upon completing probation, they may be considered as an officer. Anyway, based on my knowledge, I haven't seen a position called executive.

Of course, there are designations such as executive and senior executive, etc., but both officer and executive are very vague and can depend on the organization where such terms are used.

Incidentally, can anyone help me out in finding out what the current salary trend is in the IT industry?

Ruchika
Manager, HR & Admin
Advaiya

Ruchika,

If such designations exist, how are they positioned in an industry? I would like to know whether they are above officers.

Jayas

My observation and experience show that in most places, officers and executives are interchangeable. Correct me if I am wrong, but an Executive is a sophisticated replacement for an officer. Officer is passe, and an Executive is hip.

Ruchika
Manager, HR & Admin
Advaiya

Hi Ruchika,

I liked the way you expressed...hip and passé. Anyway, just tell me by what name will you classify the group 'Manager to Directors' while grading.

Have a nice day.

Well, to be honest, we are also using the same old terms in our organization. In our manufacturing unit, we use Manager, Operations & Production or Senior Manager, or Manufacturing Associate. For our IT team, we use Lead Developer, Practice Manager, Principal.

Maybe someone can tell me what the current trend in the industry is because in IT, we keep changing the designations.

Ruchika
Manager, HR & Admin
Advaiya

Hello and Hi!

In Job Evaluation (JE) lingo, the terms "executive" and "officer" are considered "Job Classes" or "Job Families." Job Class, Job Grades, and Position Titles/Designations are distinct terms by themselves that should be used very carefully. Otherwise, it can create a lot of confusion and even mislead people and organizations.

People interested in these areas should read materials on Job Evaluation to better understand the terms, their use, and their differences from each other. Let me attempt to make some clarifications based on the thread of the discussion that I saw.

"Executive" positions are normally considered the highest "job class" in an organization. Several years ago, however, there were certain positions that attached the word "executive" to non-executive positions to make them "classy" and attractive to applicants. Examples of these jobs are: "Sales Executive," "Executive Secretary," "Account Executive."

Sales Executives and Account Executives are Salesmen or Sales Representatives called differently. An Executive Secretary is a secretary, though he/she may serve a higher-ranked manager/executive in a company.

The term "Officer" is a generic "job class" used to denote managerial and executive incumbents in an organization. As such, any manager or executive can be rightly called an "officer" of a company.

When "officer" is used as a "job class," it is normally used to denote positions that are lower than the "executive" job class. It usually denotes positions that fall in-between the "supervisory" and "managerial" job classes and connotes some kind of a temporary designation, especially newly hired managers undergoing probationary employment status.

Job Grades are totally different and should be used carefully. Job Analysts would do well to relate Job Grades to the methodology and system used in the Job Evaluation Method.

In our system, we use Job Grades from 1-20. These Job Grades encompass all Job Classes from the Support Job Classes (lowest) to the Executive Job Class (highest). W. Mercer's Job Grades run into the hundreds while HayGroup reference Job Grades are normally up to 21.

I hope this explanation helps in clarifying this matter.

Best wishes.

Ed Llarena, Jr.

Managing Partner

Emilla Consulting