The chief operating officer (COO) is a senior executive responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of a company. The COO is usually second in command of the company, just below the CEO, and is accountable to the highest-ranking executive. They are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and administrative functions of the company, and for implementing and overseeing processes and strategies to achieve the company's overall mission and vision. Operations managers, by virtue of their inherent talents and organizational position, are highly visible and powerful.
Understanding what makes a chief operating officer successful is vital because the effectiveness of operations managers is fundamental to the fortunes of many companies. The chief operating officer (COO) is an essential part of any organization's senior management team. They are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and administrative functions of the company, as well as implementing and overseeing processes and strategies to achieve the company's overall mission and vision. In general, everyone except the CEO reports to the COO eventually, as ideas and plans move up the scale.
Research in Motion's corporate structure had more than one chief operating officer, including Jim Rowan as chief operating officer for global operations and Thorsten Heins as director of product and sales operations. Richard Fuld, the president and CEO of Lehman Brothers, had a number two succession under his command, usually titled as president and chief operating officer. When Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle, and its chief operating officer, Ray Lane, separated in 2000, it highlighted how important a COO can be in an organization. Operations managers are highly visible and powerful; Allan was promoted to ED from the position of medical director, so his experience was not in operations.
He clearly had no aspirations to become the CEO of Dell, he was there to help 29-year-old Michael. In addition to him, he had a program manager, a people development director, and a knowledge director. Understanding what makes a chief operating officer successful is vital because the effectiveness of operations managers (or the classification of operations executives by whatever name they are called) is fundamental to the fortunes of many companies. A COO must have strong leadership skills in order to effectively manage their team and ensure that all tasks are completed on time. They must also have excellent communication skills in order to effectively communicate with other members of senior management.
