Dear members,
On one of the WA groups of HR, Administrator of the groups, Mr Rajaram Thorve, has raised the topic for discussion. Today's topic for discussion is on Role Vs Powers of Executive Assistant or Executive Secretary He has asked the following questions:
Is it professionally fair to report to the Secretary or the Executive Assistant of the Chairman or the director/CEO by the Senior Management Executives?
Is the Secretary or the Executive Assistant competent enough to advise the Chairman or the Director/CEO on the organizational issues?
Suppose, if the Secretary or the Executive Assistant is second in command, how would you deal with him or her as far as employees or organisational issues are concerned?
Is there any truth that he or she tries to dominate Senior Management Executives by taking undue advantage of his or her designation just because he or she is directly reporting to the highest authorities of the organization?
I have given the replies to the above questions and these are as below:
+++++
Dear Mr Rajaram Thorve,
Introduction: - Before replying the questions, it is pertinent to bring out the difference between role of Executive Secretary and Executive Assistant. Executive Assistant to MD is not a secretarial job. Secretary does routine work like coordinating with travel operators, typing letters, managing office records and other correspondence, managing the MD's appointments etc.
Executive Assistant to MD does far more value-added job. For this post, the person is supposed to have knowledge of the organisation, work culture of the company, knowledge of the industry. On behalf of MD, this person may have to do market research or generate market intelligence, process tenders and contracts etc. For this position, work transcends across all the functions of management like HR, Marketing, Finance etc. Indirectly, the person is miniature of MD. The benefit of taking up this position is that this person gets bird's eye view of the organisation. The second benefit of becoming Executive Assistant to MD is that he/she gets close exposure to the management style of the CEO or MD and what are the flaws at senior level management. Most of the time, MBAs are selected for this position. Executive Assistant to MD may not work alone and may get assistant to his/her work.
Replies to your questions are as below:
Q. 1 Is it professionally fair to report to the Secretary or the Executive Assistant of the Chairman or the director/CEO by the Senior Management Executives?
Reply: - The reporting authority of HODs is always Director or CEO. However, many times these Director or CEO has a very tight schedule and the HODs have to interact with EA to MD or Executive Secretary (ES). Whether EA to MD or ES, either person is enjoys immense trust of MD or CEO. Because of this trust, in some organisations, EA to MD or ES starts exercising their authority informally. To keep the top boss in good humour, HODs think that it is important to keep their closest person in good humour. This is how HODs start not just revering but ingratiating EA to MD. Therefore, officially they may report to the MD or CEO but informal bosses are EA to MD or ES.
Q. 2 Is the Secretary or the Executive Assistant competent enough to advise the Chairman or the Director/CEO on the organizational issues?
Reply: - [i]Role of ES does not have advisory function. In contrast, EA to MD, have advisory function. However, whether the person is competent to advise or not has to be decided by CEO or MD. The decision will depend on competence and personality of this person.[/b]
Q. 3 Suppose, if the Secretary or the Executive Assistant is second in command, how would you deal with him or her as far as employees or organisational issues are concerned?
Reply: - Positing EA to MD or ES as second in command in the hierarchy of the organisation is worst case scenario. Can this person be head and shoulder above the HODs? Does he/she have intellectual capacity to comprehend what HODs say or propose? If not, then will it not demotivate HODs? Secondly, HODs stature has to be far higher than ES or EA to MD. Reversing the order of authority could spell disaster. Few HODs may just refuse to oblige this hierarchy and they could quit also. This will inflict hefty losses to the organisation on account of loss of opportunities. HODs who stay will have to curry favour with ES or EA to MD and it could foster culture of sycophancy.
Q. 4 Is there any truth that he or she tries to dominate Senior Management Executives by taking undue advantage of his or her designation just because he or she is directly reporting to the highest authorities of the organization?
Reply: - Though this is not a general rule as such, some amount of authority is always exercised by ES or EA to MD. There is proverb in Marathi that says तळे राखील तो पाणी चाखील (guardian of the lake enjoys it’s benefits first). However, here MD or CEO has to play a vital role. They must give due importance to the authority of HODs lest they may get demotivated as stated in reply to Question 3. Authoritative ES or EA to MD could spell disaster. Those who are little political savvy would remember how steno of India’s former Prime Minister had immense authority and he later went on to become General Secretary of the political party itself. When he was steno, Chief Ministers or even Union Cabinet Ministers were afraid of him. It is said that seeds of downfall of this political party were sown because of the culture of sycophancy. Business organisations have lesson to learn from this political party.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
7879On one of the WA groups of HR, Administrator of the groups, Mr Rajaram Thorve, has raised the topic for discussion. Today's topic for discussion is on Role Vs Powers of Executive Assistant or Executive Secretary He has asked the following questions:
Is it professionally fair to report to the Secretary or the Executive Assistant of the Chairman or the director/CEO by the Senior Management Executives?
Is the Secretary or the Executive Assistant competent enough to advise the Chairman or the Director/CEO on the organizational issues?
Suppose, if the Secretary or the Executive Assistant is second in command, how would you deal with him or her as far as employees or organisational issues are concerned?
Is there any truth that he or she tries to dominate Senior Management Executives by taking undue advantage of his or her designation just because he or she is directly reporting to the highest authorities of the organization?
I have given the replies to the above questions and these are as below:
+++++
Dear Mr Rajaram Thorve,
Introduction: - Before replying the questions, it is pertinent to bring out the difference between role of Executive Secretary and Executive Assistant. Executive Assistant to MD is not a secretarial job. Secretary does routine work like coordinating with travel operators, typing letters, managing office records and other correspondence, managing the MD's appointments etc.
Executive Assistant to MD does far more value-added job. For this post, the person is supposed to have knowledge of the organisation, work culture of the company, knowledge of the industry. On behalf of MD, this person may have to do market research or generate market intelligence, process tenders and contracts etc. For this position, work transcends across all the functions of management like HR, Marketing, Finance etc. Indirectly, the person is miniature of MD. The benefit of taking up this position is that this person gets bird's eye view of the organisation. The second benefit of becoming Executive Assistant to MD is that he/she gets close exposure to the management style of the CEO or MD and what are the flaws at senior level management. Most of the time, MBAs are selected for this position. Executive Assistant to MD may not work alone and may get assistant to his/her work.
Replies to your questions are as below:
Q. 1 Is it professionally fair to report to the Secretary or the Executive Assistant of the Chairman or the director/CEO by the Senior Management Executives?
Reply: - The reporting authority of HODs is always Director or CEO. However, many times these Director or CEO has a very tight schedule and the HODs have to interact with EA to MD or Executive Secretary (ES). Whether EA to MD or ES, either person is enjoys immense trust of MD or CEO. Because of this trust, in some organisations, EA to MD or ES starts exercising their authority informally. To keep the top boss in good humour, HODs think that it is important to keep their closest person in good humour. This is how HODs start not just revering but ingratiating EA to MD. Therefore, officially they may report to the MD or CEO but informal bosses are EA to MD or ES.
Q. 2 Is the Secretary or the Executive Assistant competent enough to advise the Chairman or the Director/CEO on the organizational issues?
Reply: - [i]Role of ES does not have advisory function. In contrast, EA to MD, have advisory function. However, whether the person is competent to advise or not has to be decided by CEO or MD. The decision will depend on competence and personality of this person.[/b]
Q. 3 Suppose, if the Secretary or the Executive Assistant is second in command, how would you deal with him or her as far as employees or organisational issues are concerned?
Reply: - Positing EA to MD or ES as second in command in the hierarchy of the organisation is worst case scenario. Can this person be head and shoulder above the HODs? Does he/she have intellectual capacity to comprehend what HODs say or propose? If not, then will it not demotivate HODs? Secondly, HODs stature has to be far higher than ES or EA to MD. Reversing the order of authority could spell disaster. Few HODs may just refuse to oblige this hierarchy and they could quit also. This will inflict hefty losses to the organisation on account of loss of opportunities. HODs who stay will have to curry favour with ES or EA to MD and it could foster culture of sycophancy.
Q. 4 Is there any truth that he or she tries to dominate Senior Management Executives by taking undue advantage of his or her designation just because he or she is directly reporting to the highest authorities of the organization?
Reply: - Though this is not a general rule as such, some amount of authority is always exercised by ES or EA to MD. There is proverb in Marathi that says तळे राखील तो पाणी चाखील (guardian of the lake enjoys it’s benefits first). However, here MD or CEO has to play a vital role. They must give due importance to the authority of HODs lest they may get demotivated as stated in reply to Question 3. Authoritative ES or EA to MD could spell disaster. Those who are little political savvy would remember how steno of India’s former Prime Minister had immense authority and he later went on to become General Secretary of the political party itself. When he was steno, Chief Ministers or even Union Cabinet Ministers were afraid of him. It is said that seeds of downfall of this political party were sown because of the culture of sycophancy. Business organisations have lesson to learn from this political party.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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