What Positions are Below the Chief Operating Officer (COO)?

In most cases, general managers are lower than the chief operating officer (COO) in a company's leadership hierarchy. Depending on the specific tasks and functions assigned to the general manager, he may report directly to the director of operations or to another intermediate leadership employee, such as an operations manager. Those who work under the direction of an operations director include all members of the company, except the CEO and the board of directors. A COO is considered to be the second-highest executive rank after the CEO.

As such, everyone, except the CEO, is accountable to the COO eventually, as ideas and plans advance up the scale. He usually holds a position just below the CEO. Responsibilities include overseeing daily operations and ensuring the proper execution of company plans and strategies. The meaning of COO is director of operations.

This is second in command after the CEO. Chief operating officers take the CEO's vision for the company and turn it into an executable business plan. They oversee all operations and ensure that teams are working to achieve business objectives. The COO is responsible for developing strategies with other company executives, implementing ideas to move the company forward and reduce costs.

Many companies have presidents, vice-presidents, or executives who represent different branches or areas of the company (such as the head of the marketing or human resources department) who report to an operations director. The chief executive officer (CEO) is considered to be the highest position in a company, unless the CEO is not the chairman of the board of directors. For example, Allan was a doctor and was promoted to the emergency department from his position as medical director, so his experience was not in operations.