Positions in an Organisation

In a sizable organisation, seven distinct positions can be identified by the work each does: mission workers, personal service workers, lead workers, supervisors, managers, staff managers, and top executives. The framework helps a school head distinguish who actually has supervisory responsibility, who has management responsibility, and who has neither. The classification matters because it shapes how each role should be filled and developed.

Why position clarity matters

In many schools, position titles do not match the actual work. A “head of department” may have no real supervisory responsibility. A “coordinator” may be doing the work of a supervisor without the title. A “deputy head” may have only personal service workers reporting to her, making her not a supervisor at all by the strict definition.

The framework below gives a way to classify each position by what it actually does. The classification is more useful than the title.

Seven distinctively different positions can be found in any sizable organisation.

The seven positions follow.

1. Mission workers

The non-supervisory people who perform the work of their group. E.g. mission of accounting unit is to fulfil accounting needs; those who do the actual account work are mission workers, accountants, etc.

Mission workers do the actual work of the organisation. They are the front line.

In a school: teachers (whose mission is teaching), accounting staff (whose mission is finance), maintenance workers (whose mission is upkeep), librarians (whose mission is the library).

Mission workers are not supervisors. They may be excellent, expert, and senior in years, but they do not have other people reporting to them. Their work is the work, not the supervision of others’ work.

A school’s mission workers are the largest group. They are also the most important; they actually deliver the educational service.

2. Personal service workers

The non-supervisory people who work directly for a manager or supervisor. They provide help or service, but do not do “the work”, e.g. staff assistant, secretary.

Personal service workers support a manager or supervisor. They are not doing the mission work; they are helping someone else do hers.

In a school: the principal’s executive assistant. The deputy’s secretary. The director’s administrative support.

Personal service workers are valuable but their role is different from mission workers. They serve one person rather than performing the organisation’s mission directly.

Important distinction

Having a personal service worker (such as a secretary) reporting to a person does not qualify that person as a supervisor.

A principal whose only direct report is her secretary is not, by this definition, a supervisor. The supervision of staff happens at the layer below. Many “head” positions in schools fall into this category; they have an assistant but no mission workers reporting to them.

3. Lead workers

Those who have some supervisory responsibility but the assigned mission work load is so heavy it leaves very little time for true supervision.

Lead workers have a mixed role. They have some supervisory responsibility (a few people may report to them) but their primary work is still mission work. They lead by example and direction while doing the work themselves.

In a school: a senior teacher who informally mentors younger teachers but is still teaching her full load. A grade-level coordinator who handles one or two coordination tasks but mainly teaches.

Lead workers exist in a transitional space. They are starting to do supervisory work but have not yet been fully released from mission work. The position is common in growing schools, where someone has been given supervisory responsibility but the school cannot afford to remove her teaching load.

This is often unsustainable. The supervisory work and the mission work compete for the same time, and one or both suffer. Either the supervisory work should be made formal (and the mission load reduced) or it should be removed.

4. Supervisors

People who have mission and lead workers reporting to them. Very important position. Unique responsibility.

Supervisors are people whose actual job is supervising the front line. They have mission workers and lead workers reporting to them. Their primary work is making sure the mission work is being done well.

In a school: a grade-level coordinator whose work is primarily supervising the grade’s teachers. A head of department whose work is primarily supervising the department’s teachers.

This is a very important position. The supervisors are the layer that translates direction from above into actual practice at the front line. A school with strong supervisors has consistent teaching quality. A school with weak supervisors has variable quality.

5. Managers

Those who have supervisors and/or other managers reporting directly to them. (Also = “line managers”)

Managers supervise supervisors. They do not directly supervise mission workers; that work is delegated to the supervisors.

In a school: a deputy head whose direct reports are the section heads and coordinators (who in turn supervise the teachers). The deputy is a manager, not a supervisor.

The manager’s work is different from the supervisor’s. The manager focuses on broader coordination, resource allocation, and management of supervisors. She develops the supervisors and ensures the supervisory layer functions well.

A common error: a manager who tries to supervise mission workers directly, bypassing the supervisor layer. This undermines the supervisors (they lose authority), confuses the mission workers (who get conflicting directions), and burns out the manager (who is doing two jobs).

6. Staff managers

Also “staff specialists”. People who serve line managers with specialist advice, but have no mission workers, etc., reporting to them.

Staff managers are specialists. They provide expertise to other managers but do not have direct reports doing mission work.

In a school: an HR specialist, a finance director, an IT director, a marketing director. They provide expertise to the line managers but do not directly oversee the teaching, learning, or daily operations.

Staff managers are valuable but their role is advisory and specialist, not supervisory of mission workers.

7. Top executives

Members of top management who have managers or supervisors reporting to them, plan the organisation’s future, figure how to acquire necessary resources and establish overall policy.

Top executives sit at the top. They have managers and sometimes supervisors reporting to them. Their work is the organisation’s future, resources, and policy.

In a school: the principal, the board (in a governance sense), possibly the owner.

Top executives do not (in this distinction) personally supervise mission workers. The school’s teachers do not report to the principal directly; they report through coordinators and section heads to the deputy and the principal.

A small school may collapse some of these positions. In a 10-teacher school, the principal may be all of: top executive, manager, supervisor, and even teacher. In a 100-teacher school, the positions usually separate.

Why titles do not qualify

Titles also do not qualify.

A “head” title does not make someone a supervisor. A “manager” title does not make someone a manager. The actual reporting relationships and the actual work define the position.

Many Pakistani schools have inflated titles. Every senior teacher gets a “head” or “coordinator” title to compensate for modest pay. The titles signal status but may not match the actual work.

A school head should know, for each position in her school, the actual classification by this framework. The classification is more useful than the title for organising work and clarifying responsibilities.

A school’s position map

A school head can map her school’s positions using the framework.

The map clarifies what each position is for. It also reveals gaps. A school whose grade coordinators are doing mission work (teaching their full load) and trying to supervise on top is a school with weak supervision capacity. The fix is to reduce the coordinators’ teaching load so they can actually do supervision.

Flashcard

What are the seven positions in a sizable organisation, and how do they differ?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Mission Workers, Personal Service Workers, Lead Workers, Supervisors, Managers, Staff Managers, Top Executives.

1. Mission workers. Do the actual work; not supervisors. Teachers.
2. Personal service workers. Help managers; not in the mission line. Secretaries.
3. Lead workers. Some supervisory work, but heavy mission workload. Senior teachers with informal mentoring.
4. Supervisors. Have mission workers and lead workers reporting. Coordinators, heads of department.
5. Managers. Have supervisors reporting. Deputy heads.
6. Staff managers. Specialist advisers. HR, IT, Finance directors.
7. Top executives. Have managers reporting; set policy. Principal.

Two important rules:

1. Having a personal service worker reporting to you does not qualify you as a supervisor.
2. Titles do not qualify; only actual reporting relationships do.

A school head who knows the real classification of each position can organise work, clarify responsibilities, and identify gaps that the titles hide.