In the passing decade, we witnessed lots of changes in the way organizations function. With the change in the nature of businesses, setting up new businesses, the increasing role of technology, changing talent needs, demands and expectations, approaches to information sharing, etc., the traditional organization structures have given way to newer structures. Designations were traditionally used to define the role you play in an organization and reflect where you stood in the chain-of-command but companies are increasingly setting up new designations that reflect their corporate values and philosophy. Many traditional departments got dissolved or merged into another while a few new departments and functions came into existence.
Here is a list of a few newly created roles in senior-level management in the corporate ecosystem:
Chief Communications Officer (CCO)
The role of a CCO of a company is managing the communications risks and opportunities of a business. Traditionally, communication has been seen along with marketing and public relations function focussing on branding and media relations. Communication – both internal and external has emerged as a key priority in a digitally connected world where information flows and messages get viral within seconds. The message that a brand sends to the outside world as well as to its employees and partners can be detrimental to how the business is seen by the customers and the entire ecosystem. Years of investment in brand image and corporate reputation can take a beating based on rumors, or any negative messages. The role of a CCO is expected to support corporate reputation and ensure appropriate relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including employees, shareholders, media, bloggers, influential members of the business community, the press and the public.
Chief Digital Officer (CDO)
Chief Digital Officer (CDO) role has been gaining widespread acceptance across organizations. The requirement for the position is based on an organization’s need for digital transformation, bringing in a cultural shift – making digital integral to business strategy. In the short run, the position is expected to enable digital transformation towards bringing efficiency in business processes to be able to create an agile, nimble and responsive organization. At times, the position of a CDO sees overlap with the CTO or CIO roles depending on the business. Over a period of time, the priority of the position is to enable an organization-wide culture to shift to a digital mindset.
Chief Diversity Officer (CDO)
Organizations are increasingly focussed on building an inclusive workplace and are creating processes and policies supporting diversity at the workplace. The same is relevant considering the need to get the best talent, as well as to create a positive work culture that values people. The role of a CDO is to keep the organization aligned and sensitive to its mandate of building and nurturing an inclusive workplace. Apart from working on the strategic aspects of bringing in diversity at the workplace the role also focuses on leveraging the possibility of creating relevant opportunities for people of all sections of society. Roughly 20% of Fortune 500 companies employ diversity officers. CDOs are responsible for cultivating work or learning environments that encourage and support diversity. This often includes developing and incorporating inclusion initiatives, such as organization-wide diversity training and multicultural events. Chief diversity officers may also be charged with creating strategies to recruit a diverse student body or workforce. In some cases, this includes ensuring that an organization complies with affirmative action or equal employment opportunity regulations.
Chief Innovation Officer (CIO)
CIO that stood for Chief Information Officer may soon give way to CIO representing Chief Innovation Officer. Innovation is the key for most businesses to thrive in a competitive business environment. A business needs to innovate on its products, service, processes so that value creation happens at all stages and across functions. This ensures that the organization stays a learning and thinking organization. The CIO role is primarily responsible for managing the process of innovation and change management in an organization. The officer architects strategies, identifies business opportunities and new technologies, facilitates capability building to enable an organization to work on new business models and wade through new industry structures to address upcoming opportunities. A chief innovation officer has to continuously look for opportunities to create further value across the value chain of a business by doing things differently. The term “chief innovation officer” was first coined and described in the 1998 book Fourth Generation R&D.
Chief Risk Officer (CRO)
The increasing regulatory scrutiny over businesses, their market practices, corporate governance, and the need for compliance makes the CRO position one of the most important members of the management team. CRO’s are expected to focus primarily on Governance, Risk, and Ethics (GRE). The Chief Risk Management Officer (CRMO) or CRO of an organization or corporation is the executive accountable for enabling the efficient and effective governance of significant risks, and related opportunities, to a business and its various segments. CROs find a way to balance risks and inventory decisions to obtain an optimum level for stakeholders and maintain a positive reputation regarding the firm. A CRO must identify, assess, measure, manage, monitor and report every aspect of the risk function of new implementations of the firm. The role of the CRO is still evolving as the scope of the task is constantly changing. The term CRO came in the limelight when James Lam became the first worldwide CRO at GE Capital in 1993.
Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)
CSO is the corporate title of an executive position within a corporation that is in charge of the corporation’s “environmental” programs. Leading corporations have been under regular public scrutiny regarding their impact on the environment and are increasingly focussed on demonstrating their commitment to the environment. CSOs are often responsible for communicating work done on sustainability both inside and outside the organization. Their work portfolio extends to managing certifications related to compliance on environmental and sustainability regulations, establishing an internal process for calculating organizational Carbon footprint and building plans for reducing it. The role also advises and enables processes related to waste management, recycling and related sustainability practices. As of 2005, nearly 150 large companies in the world had a sustainability officer with the rank of vice president or higher.
Chief User Experience Officer (CUEO)
A Chief User Experience Officer or simply Chief Experience Officer is an executive who ensures positive interactions with an organization’s external customers. A chief experience officer communicates the value proposition of the organization using the customers’ language, interacting with the customer through their preferred communications channels to ensure a positive customer experience.
Sandeep is a journalism and mass communication graduate with a keen interest in politics and business. He is a part of Research & Content team at HrNxt.com.