Corporate General Manager
What the work is
Plans, organises, directs, controls and reviews the day-to-day operations and major functions of a commercial, industrial, governmental or other organisation through departmental managers and subordinate executives.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Plans policies and sets standards and objectives for organisations
- Provides day-to-day direction and management of organisations
- Directs and endorses policies to fulfil objectives, achieve specific goals, and maximise profit and/or efficiency
- Consults and liaises with departmental heads on matters such as finance, sales and human resources
- Implements and oversees organisational policies and programs
- Selects senior staff and manages their performance
- Ensures and encourages compliance with organisational policies and protocols, and relevant legislation
- Represents the organisation at official occasions, in negotiations, at conventions, seminars, public hearings and forums
- May prepare or arrange for the preparation of reports, budgets and forecasts
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a fictional regional logistics and supply operation, and the senior leaders who oversee its many units. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- All the departments you lead deliver on the same day, and nobody had to chase anyone
- A manager you promoted two years ago runs her first big project without your help
- You turn a long-running argument between two units into a plan both can live with
Hard days
- Two excellent managers want the same resource and you can only give it to one
- Hearing about a problem last, after everyone else already knew
- Making decisions on incomplete information, then explaining them to everyone
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 121231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.