Manager, boss, superior – which should I choose?

Question

In my language, we have one single word for what is referred to in English as "boss", "manager", "superior", "senior staff"... and I have a very hard time figuring out which of the English words to use when. I've consulted all the dictionaries I have found to get an understanding of what to use when, but if anything, I'm even more confused now... To give some concrete examples, in the following sentences, which would you say would be the best choice to replace X:

1. If this fails, the matter should be escalated to the relevant X.
2. If this happens, you should contact the X responsible.
3. The administrative director is the X of administrative staff.
4. The relevant staff member's X will then discuss the matter with the board.
5. Who is his X?
6. If you experience harassment, you should first contact your immediate* X.

*By "immediate" I mean 'the one directly above you in the organisational hierarchy' – if "immediate" is the wrong choice of word for this, you're more than welcome to correct me!

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

"Manager" is a fairly neutral word, suitable for most business contexts. Your manager is the person who has responsibility for supervising your work.

"Manager" would work well in (3) (4) (5) and (6)

In (2) I'd just say "contact the person responsible". And in (1) "person" is probably the best word to use, or I might use "line manager", or "administrator", or "member of the senior staff". In some organizations "manager" might also work. This is an example of company specific language.

"Boss" is a fairly casual way to describe either the head of the company, or your manager. So "the boss" is the leader of the organization. "My boss" is a slightly casual way to say "my line manager". The examples are more formal, but "boss" would be possible in (4) and (5), in the right context

Much of this terminology is not generic. It is specific to a company. What one company calls its "Leadership Team", another might call "Management Committee" and a third "Senior Staff Group". When working in a company, you have to get used to the terms and phrases that are company specific.

However "Manager" and "line manager" (for your immediate manager) are quite widely used in many organisations.

Culturally, "superior" is a word that is not often used. It has connotations that the person is not only above you in an organisation, but is better than you. It is sometimes used to translate words like "senpai" from other cultures (Japanese), but this tends to result in "translationese".

Answer 2

The other answers here are quite good, so I won't duplicate them, but I would like to add some context around the word "boss" in English, which has additional connotations — additional meanings that you may want to be careful around.

Boss is a noun, meaning "the person in charge of something," but it can also be a verb — he bossed me around yesterday — and it can also be an adjective — that bossy lady at dinner argued with the waiter the whole night.

What you'll note about the other two forms, the verb and the adjective, is that they both have negative connotations — they're used in cases where someone is claiming authority that they might not rightly have earned. The negative connotations carry into the noun form as well: The noun boss in English often has a subtle negative connotation to it, not just "the person in charge," but "the person who tells me what to do all the time and takes away my freedom." You'll hear sentences like my boss was pretty rough on me today, and my boss is a real hard-ass, both directly implying that the boss was not just managing the speaker, but treating the speaker very badly as well.

You can also see that negative connotation in sentences like he's actually a pretty good boss, or actually I really like my boss, both of which have the speaker showing that in that exceptional case, the word "boss" is intended to have a good connotation. The speaker is speaking casually but still wants the listener to know that boss isn't bad in their context, implying that it's generally bad in most other contexts.

You'll also find situations where the connotation of "person who makes all of the decisions, depriving others of their freedom" is intentional. For example, Boss Tweed controlled nearly all politics in New York City in the late 1800s — if you wanted any role in government at all, you needed Boss Tweed's blessing. Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazzard TV show went by that title to imply that he (the county commissioner) was in charge of everything in Hazzard County. Gangsters and mafia members and gang members may sometimes refer to their leader as "Boss" — note the capitalization, implying that it's not just a noun but a proper noun, a name, a term of respect, indicating that the speaker recognizes and likes that authoritarian leadership.

Importantly, what all of these forms have in common is a power disparity: A manager or supervisor may be a colleague or friend, but a boss is usually not. The word boss implies that a person has power and control in a way that the other words don't state as strongly, and a difference in power can often be negative: Hence the frequent negative overtones in the word boss. Notice that I'm worried the boss will fire me is a common English sentence; but I'm worried the manager will fire me is a lot rarer.

Anyway, there's not always a negative connotation to the word "boss," but there's often a subtle overtone of negativity, so in addition to the fact that "boss" is often preferred in more casual contexts than a business setting, you also need to be careful not to imply negativity that you may not intend. So when in doubt, stick with "manager," which is much more neutral.

Answer 3

Your examples don’t completely nail down the context, so there is some wiggle room. Plus there are differences between US and British (and likely) other usage. But here’s what this American would say.

1. manager or supervisor
2. [too context-dependent to be answered]
3. supervisor
4. [context-dependent]
5. boss, manager, or supervisor
6. supervisor

Answer 4

Modern work lingo these days favours line manager to avoid all the subtle differences in connotations that might inadvertently be triggered. You can use that phrase for all your X.

Answer 5

Manager or Supervisor would both be appropriate. Ideally you want the word that connotes the role you'll be playing. In most cases, you will be managing or supervising your team while they work fairly autonomously. You'll be providing coaching, feedback and oversight, with the occasional time where you may be dealing with issues that they can't or don't want to (elevated Customer Service role). Boss or Superior may have a negative connotation with them- you probably don't intend to boss them around, or act superior to them, so in most cases, these would be words and connotations you would like to avoid.