What is the difference between 'directorate' and 'department'?
Is a department, like, a ministry and directorate a sub-ministry? In the political/business context, a directorate doesn't exist on its own and is always subordinate to a department (which is, in turn, a specialized division of a government or company itself), is that right?
Best Answer
It may differ between organisations, but a "directorate" is normally everything that is under one particular director of the company. "Departments" are usually then smaller areas within the directorate, normally under a department head or department manager.
Organisations differ in structure, and I would say that this applies when an organisation has more than one director with different areas of responsibility - otherwise there would be no need to divide the organisation into directorates, as everything would fall under the director or a board of directors.