A manager is responsible for running a business, department, team or similar organisation, which usually includes wider decisions such as budgets or strategy. A supervisor is officially responsible for overseeing someone's work, a narrower, more hands-on role. A store manager approves a refund and sets policy; a supervisor reorganises the shift schedule and checks the work gets done.
The core difference
A manager runs the wider organisation or its direction, while a supervisor oversees the day-to-day work of the people doing it.
- manager — runs a business, department, team or similar organisation: she was promoted to manager after just two years.
- manager — also handles a performer's or team's business affairs, or acts as head coach: his manager negotiated the recording contract.
- supervisor — officially oversees someone's work: ask your supervisor before taking time off.
How to tell them apart
Think of scope. A manager's job usually covers a whole area of the business, with authority over budgets, hiring or direction, as with a store manager approving a refund on the spot. A supervisor's job is narrower and more immediate: checking that a shift runs smoothly, that tasks are done, that a small team is on track, as with reorganising a shift schedule.
The two roles often sit in the same reporting line, with a supervisor answering to a manager, which is where the mix-up creeps in. If the question is who sets the direction, it is the manager; if it is who checks the work in front of them right now, it is the supervisor.
