Manager - Manager (English spelling)

The person or organization that makes the highest decisions regarding the management of a company and directs and supervises the overall execution of management activities. Its decision-making can be divided into three categories: temporary, routine, and evaluation. Temporary decisions are compositional decisions related to the basic existence of a company, such as the establishment, reorganization, merger, and dissolution, and top-level personnel decisions related to the appointment and dismissal of directors, auditors, and other important officials. Routine decisions include decisions on management objectives that define the company's philosophy and goals, decisions on management strategies related to business fields, product market mix, and basic modes of management behavior, decisions on the procurement and allocation of resources, especially investment and management structure that determines the basic organization, and decisions on long-term management plans. Evaluation decisions are decisions related to the determination, evaluation, and disclosure of management performance and the distribution of management results.

The concept of a manager is highly functional, and the person or organization that is actually in charge of and executes the above-mentioned decisions is a manager. Even if a person holds a high position, if he or she is not actually involved in the decisions, he or she is not a manager. However, in general, there is a position or organization that is expected to be in charge of and execute these decisions in a company, and this is usually called a manager. In a modern, representative corporate form, a joint-stock company, extraordinary and evaluation decisions are made by the general shareholders' meeting, and ordinary decisions are made by the board of directors, so formally, these two organizations can be called management organizations. However, in reality, due to the separation of ownership and management (separation of capital and management), the chairman, president, and other directors with titles (vice presidents, senior managing directors, and managing directors) control all of the above-mentioned decisions, and these people can be said to be the actual managers. When a company was at a low stage of development, it was common for investors to become owners and managers themselves. In this way, a person who is both an investor and a manager at the same time is called an entrepreneur. Owner managers are also often hereditary managers. However, the sophistication of companies through expansion and other factors has on the one hand led to the dispersion of ownership due to an increase in the number of investors and the transformation of investors into investors, while on the other hand has led to the need for special professional skills and experience necessary for the effective operation of large and complex production organizations. Thus, the era of the traditional hereditary manager, as well as the owner-manager, is over and the era of the professional manager is upon us. A professional manager is a manager who is selected based primarily on managerial ability and experience. In the United States, it is customary to make public the name of the CEO (chief executive officer), who is the core of the management team.

[Mitsuo Morimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

企業の経営について最高の意思を決定し、経営活動の全体的遂行を指揮・監督する人または機関をいう。その意思決定は、臨時的決定、経常的決定、評価的決定に三分される。臨時的決定は、企業の設立、改組、合併、解散などの基本的存立に関する組成的決定と、取締役、監査役、その他重要役職者の任免に関する最高人事決定である。経常的決定は、経営理念と経営目標を定める経営目的の決定、事業分野・製品市場ミックス・経営行動の基本様式に関する経営戦略の決定、資源の調達と配合、とくに投資と基本組織を定める経営構造の決定、長期経営計画の決定などからなる。評価的決定は、経営業績の確定、評価、開示と経営成果の分配に関する決定である。

　経営者は優れて機能的概念であり、前記のような諸決定を現実に担当し遂行している人または機関が経営者である。高い役職についている人でも、諸決定に現実に関与していない場合には、経営者ではない。しかし一般に、企業にはこれら諸決定を担当し遂行することを予定され、期待されている役職ないし機関が存在し、通常それを経営者とよんでいる。現代の代表的企業形態である株式会社では、臨時的決定と評価的決定は株主総会に、経常的決定は取締役会によって分担されているから、形式的にはこれら両機関が経営者機関といえる。しかし実際には、所有と経営の分離（資本と経営の分離）により、会長や社長を中心とする役付取締役（副社長、専務、常務）が前記諸決定のすべてを左右しており、これらの人々が現実の経営者であるといえる。企業の発展段階が低い状態では、出資者がそのまま経営者になる所有経営者owner managerが普通であった。このように、出資者であって同時に経営者でもある人をとくに企業者という。所有経営者はまた、世襲経営者であることも少なくない。ところが、大規模化などによる企業の高度化は、一方で、出資者の多数化による所有の分散と出資者の投資家化を生み出し、他方で、複雑巨大化した生産組織の有効な稼働に必要な特殊な専門的能力と経験を必要とするに至った。かくて、従来の世襲経営者はもとより所有経営者の時代は去って、専門経営者professional managerの時代が到来する。専門経営者とは、経営に関する能力と経験を第一条件として選任される経営者をいう。アメリカでは、経営者の中心となる最高経営責任者（CEO　chief executive officer）を公表する慣行がある。

［森本三男］

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