Students taking conducted tours through the offices of insurance companies are often surprised at the number of different operations which have to be performed. Regardless of their interests, students are almost sure to find some job that appeals to them.
Almost all professions and skills are represented, with the possible exception of ministers. In addition to employing specialists in all phases of business administration, the insurance industry employs graduates from schools of engineering, law, medicine, agriculture, and journalism.
From liberal arts colleges, companies employ mathematicians and psychologists. The multitudinous functions performed in a life insurance company are organized into divisions, departments, and sections, toward the end of assuring that every operation essential to the business will be performed in an efficient manner.
The principles of administration of an insurance company are no different from those in any other business organization. There must be a clear definition of responsibilities and a delegation of authority. As in any other company, four types of organizational patterns are available; line, line and staff, functional, and committee.
Usually, the structure in actual use in a given company is a hybrid combining several of these four basic types. This results from the fact that business seldom consciously selects any one type of organizational structure. Instead, organizational patterns develop as a matter of evolution. There is no standardized organization chart adaptable to all types of life insurance. There are, nevertheless, a few basic departments which are common to most companies. These will be discussed later.
In an insurance company, as in any type of business organization, authority moves downward, while responsibility moves upward. The primary source of authority is the stockholders in a stock company and the policyholders in a mutual company. They have the final official say on all matters relating to the administration of the company.
This authority, however, is usually delegated to the board of directors, who will in turn retain some of it and delegate the rest of it to a number of executive officers. These officers, appointed by the board, actually run the everyday operations of the company. They, of course, will delegate authority. The number of levels of authority varies from company to company, depending a great deal on the size and scope of company operations.
Stockholders in some companies, policyholders in others, elect the board of directors. The board is usually organized into committees designed to formulate policies on certain phases of company operations. The board meets periodically to hear the reports of these committees.
The most common committees are the Executive Committee, which occupies itself with general questions concerning lines of life insurance rates, territories, public relations, and employee relations, and which assumes full powers of the board during the periods between meetings; the Finance Committee, which determines the over-all investment policy of the company; the Auditing Committee, which audits the company accounts (the actual auditing is done by a firm of public accountants which reports to the committee); and the Underwriting Committee, which studies matters relating to risk selection and determines the underwriting policy of the company.
Additional committees may be found among the companies, their nature depending upon the special needs of the company or, often, upon the special interests of certain members of the board. Board committees must not be confused with administrative committees of the executive officers.
