Overlapping roles in SMEs are a real problem

Theory and practice

And it is often even mistaken for efficiency.

In a company that builds mechanical plant to order, we found ourselves faced with the classic “indispensable” figure: the business owner’s right-hand man, a respected person, present everywhere, involved in everything.

He proudly tells us about his activities: coordinating quotations, drafting basic contracts and approving contracts with subcontractors, monitoring production data (turnover, costs and margins), analysing cash flows, taking part in the tendering process with the client and holding regular meetings with the job order managers.

At that point we asked him: “What exactly is your role in the company?” The answer was as spontaneous as it was telling: “Before defining mine, I'd need to understand everyone else's.”

And this is where the real problem emerges. Many SMEs grow without building a solid management structure, and so hybrid roles appear: people who know a little about everything but end up covering very different activities poorly.

The result? Blurred responsibilities, slower decisions, dependence on people rather than processes, and business owners forced to step in all the time.

When everything always goes through the same people, the company is not organised but simply used to surviving, and over time this limits the business’s ability to grow in a structured and sustainable way, with clear effects on the speed and quality of decision-making.

That is why we proposed a classic organisational set-up, based on four key functions: sales, purchasing, production and administration; each area with a specific manager, clear objectives and defined boundaries.

A key step concerned purchasing. Originally it was “scattered” among the various job order managers, with no real coordination. So we centralised the function, appointing a dedicated manager tasked with planning supplies, identifying the most critical procurement items and improving operational and economic control.

But reorganisation does not stop at the organisation chart, because a structure only truly works when people are supported through the change, including through targeted training, especially if the managers are chosen from within the existing organisation.

We then introduced Management Committees, involving the business owner and department heads to set shared objectives, turn the accounting ledger accounts into genuine responsibility centres and move from a family-run approach to managerial leadership

Because a business truly grows when it stops depending on “indispensable people” and starts working as a team.

Does your business have clear roles… or people who do “a bit of everything”?