WHO NEEDS COOS?
WHO NEEDS COOS?
During a recession, when efficient, lean management is at a premium, chief operating officers would seem to be in hot demand. But the ranks of CEO deputies are dwindling. Executive search firm Crist/Kolder Associates has found the percentage of COOs in big companies is at a 15-year low and the rate of decline has been sharper in 2009 than in any year since 2001.
It's not because of headcount trimming: Rather, says John Keller, a senior client partner at executive search firm Korn/Ferry International, boards are shunning big-picture visionaries for "operationally astute" chief executives, while CEOs want less separating them from the business. Plus, as many CEOs stay on as chairmen when a new chief executive is named, says management consultant Jay Galbraith, these executive duos see less need to add a second in command.
But one unspoken reason COOs' numbers may be falling, says Galbraith, may be simple fear. As the pressure on CEOs heats up, at least a few simply don't want such an obvious successor in place.
Copyright 2009 BusinessWeek
