Executive Roles and Decision Making:
Most executive decisions fall into four classes:
a. Strategic planning
b. Tactical planning
c. Fire fighting
d. Control
Executives need a certain degree of control to ensure that these activities are carried out properly.
a. Strategic Planning:
Strategic planning involves determining the general, long-range direction of the organization. Typically the CEO (chief executive officer) is ultimately responsible for the development of strategic plans. In firms with a participative style of management, members of the executive group help in formulating a strategic plan.
| Executive |
| An executive can probably best be described as a manager at or near the top of the organizational hierarchy who exerts a strong influence on the course taken by the organization. The position in a firm considered to be executive vary from company to company. The CIO (Chief information Officer) may work as an executive participating in key strategic decision, but in other organization CIO may be a middle manager (who often has a title other than CIO). And sometimes, the person In charge of an organization's CBIS is basically a Software director. |
b. Tactical Planning:
Whereas strategic planning addresses the general concerns of the firm, tactical planning refers to the how, when, where, and what issues are involved with carrying out the strategic plan. Although executives will not normally be concerned with tactical details, they do need to worry about general tactics. For example, the vice-president of marketing will need to consider which classes of products the company should produce to be successful in the market place.
c. Fire Fighting:
Major problems arise sometimes that must be resolved by some one at an executive level. For example, the announcement of an important product by a competitor, a strike, and a sharp reversal of the economy, many of these events will call for key alterations in plans.
d. Control:
In addition to planning and fire fighting, executive management also needs to exert some general control over the organization. For example, if the strategic plan calls for a 20 % increase in profitability, feedback is needed to ensure that certain actions taken within the organization are accomplishing that objective. Thus executives will also periodically review key performance data to see how they compare against planned amounts.
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