Small business owners very often take exception to giving titles to employees.  They don’t see the value in it.  Since the firm cannot afford to hire multiple people for different jobs and each job many not require a full time person anyway, everyone must wear many hats.  So how can we assign a title to anybody? It seems pointless.

Unfortunately, everyone wants a title.  So the owner gives a very high title like Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Technology Officer.  That way they cover all the related responsibilities in the employee’s area of focus.  It feels better to the employee (he has an important title) and it gives the outside world an impression that the firm is bigger than it is.

The problem with this approach is that the structure of the organization is actually being undermined and there is no plan for the future growth of the firm.  How do you know if an employee is really qualified to be a Chief Whatever Officer?  What happens when you do grow and need to put a real senior manager in place and need to “demote” the employee by putting someone above him?  It creates all kinds of employee and culture challenges.