COOs Don't Just Fade Away...

The position of the chief operating officer in leading corporations isn’t being eliminated, as once thought, it is being transformed, a new report by The Conference Board finds.

The Changing Role of the COO finds that the need for, and the definition of, a COO is determined by the relationship between the role and that of the CEO, including their respective personalities and the needs of the particular business.  A risk assessment of the CEO “going it alone” and internal talent management considerations are also used to determine the role of the COO. Some have said that the COO position is evolving from the number two spot in a company to a leadership “on demand” role that changes focus with changing business strategy.

What’s more, the report finds that companies, in order to grow more quickly in an increasingly competitive business world, are becoming flatter, with the CEO now going directly to the heads of lines of the business for answers. 

“The scope and intensity of leadership demands today call for a team approach at the top,” said Fr. Robert J. Kramer, principal researcher at The Conference Board, and author of the report, in a statement.  “Some companies are deciding that the composition of that corporate leadership team need not include a COO. Others are changing the duties for which a COO is responsible.”

The report is based on in-depth interviews with executives from companies that represent diverse industries and a literature review.  Those executives surveyed include heads of human resources, regional heads, COOs, CEOs, heads of business units, and heads of company research.