CHIEF BETWEEN MANAGER AND LEADER

The term chief is perceived, in the Romanian managerial culture, a variety of meanings, being preferred by comparison with other terms which designate authority within the organizational space, respectively the manager or the leader. This uncontested popularity, doubled by an exaggerated use of the term, led to dilution and stereotype use, being rendered innocuous and used in connection with a multitude of activities and life situations. Starting from the concepts of manager, leader or manager - leader, I have tried, through a qualitative study, to analyze the perception of the employees regarding the meaning of the notion of chief and to place the chief, according to the perception of the employees, between the manager and the leader. I made this research in two stages. In the first stage, I have interviewed 100 persons with authority in the public and private area, using the Delphi technique, trying to identify the the main 15 abilities necessary to a manager and 15 necessary to a leader, in the opinion of the respondents. I relied on their managerial experience, minimum 3 years on management positions, without structuring the specimen based on the management level, age, studies or gender. The only structuring I made was based on the field where the management was manifested - public or private. After the identification of the abilities, I requested to a number of 100 employees in the private and public environment, to choose, undifferentiated, 20 of them, which would be adequate, in their opinion, for the chief. I analyzed if the 20 identified features belong to the psycho - behavioral profile of the manager or of the leader. In this way, I wanted to find out if the employee in the public field, for instance, when he thinks about his chief, considers him closer to the manager or closer to the leader.