Brit-Speak: Vernon Dursley is a /Director/.

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "davewitley"
<dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:

> ...edited...
> 
> If you want a single sentence, something like 'As director, Vernon 
> Dursley likely runs Grunnings but does not necessarily own it'.  
> Second opinion, anyone?
> 
> David


Hi, this is Steve, no not that Steve, the other Steve, the one who
asked the original question.

My impression fits with David's. I see (my vague and general
impression) Vernon very near the top, but still just a worker.

In USA corporate structure, the Board of Directors which includes all
the 'Chiefs' (CEO, CFO, etc...) don't sully themselves with such
mudane things as the day-to-day operation of a company. They are more
interested in broad trends, guiding the general direction of the
company, and coming up with policy and strategy. The next level down
is the President who has broad and general responsibility in
supervising the routine operation of the company. In a sense, he/she
is like a go-between between the Board and those people responsible
for day-to-day operation. Beneath the President are Vice Presidents
who usually have specific areas of responsibility and do have to take
an active supervisory role in daily operation. They are the highest
level managers. Beneath the V.P.'s are various level department and
division managers.

I don't think Grunnings has the full corporate structure outlined
here. My impression is that Vernon is a hands-on guy, rather than a
Board Room policy maker. Based on this, I don't put Vernon at the top
of the company. My impression is that he handles the daily routine
operation at or near the highest level at his location. That would
make him a very high level manager in a large company or possible a
Vice President at a small to medium company. Perhaps we could call him
the 'General Manager' which may or may not be the same as 'Managing
Director'.

I was hoping, in asking the original question, that 'Director' would
be a very common and specific term in British business culture, and
would therefore help us narrow down Vernon's role in the company.

To the person who posted an example of housing prices in Surrey, here
is a handy conversion for us internationally-challenged people in the
USA. A £300,000 house would cost US$540,000 at current exchange rates.
Not a mansion, but certainly a nice house. 

There are various places on the 'net where you can go to investigate
housing prices in London and other places in England. It's very
enlightening for someone from the USA, you can gain some real
perspective. In a $500,000 house, you can count on a very tiny yard
and a house with very tiny rooms (by USA standards), and a house that
is very close to the house next door.

As a broad generalization, one reason USA house are larger, is that in
the USA we usually build houses with the intent that they last about
100 years, in Europe they build houses with the intent that they last
more like 500 years. 

Side Note: for anyone needing to do any kind of conversion including
weights and measures, currency, and time zones, I highly recommend...

http://www.convertit.com/

Thanks to all who responded.

Steve (not the Lexicon Steve, the other one)