Directors and senior managers

Directors sit on the board of directors, or senior management team, and lead a whole business function such as production or distribution. They rarely do the day-to-day work themselves; instead they are accountable for it, meaning they answer for how well their function performs and for the staff working in it. A production director at a chain of bakeries, for example, sets the quality standards every kitchen must meet and is answerable when one shop keeps selling underweight loaves.

The chief executive

The chief executive is the most senior director or manager in the business. They are responsible for its overall management and performance and make the major corporate decisions, such as whether to buy a rival chain or close a loss-making site. The other directors and the senior managers report to the chief executive.

Senior managers

Senior managers report to directors and run one particular team or department. Their role has three strands: planning work, deciding what must be done and by when; organising resources and staff, matching people, equipment and budgets to that plan; and monitoring performance, checking output, quality or costs against targets. In the bakery chain, the senior manager for production might plan the weekly baking schedule, arrange shifts across three kitchens and review daily waste figures, then report the results to the production director.

So accountability runs from senior managers to directors: senior managers answer for their team's performance, and directors answer for the functions they lead.