Planning Differences of Management

The planning done at different levels of management is a result of vision and purpose. Top level or senior managers are involved in long range type planning where the front line or first line managers are involved in the day to day operations of the organization. Both levels of management are vital to the health and profitability of the organization when they are performing their respective functions while being cognizant of the others involved.

Senior management is involved in long range vision planning for the board of directors or ownership by establishing strategic plans that clearly state the goals and objectives for the organization. An example of an objective in The Boeing Company is one regarding ethics and the handling of governmental contracts. In November 2003, Boeing Executive Vice President and CFO Mike Sears and former U.S. government official Darleen Druyun were fired for violating company policies by communicating directly and indirectly with Druyun about future employment when she had not disqualified herself from acting in her official government capacity on matters involving Boeing. (Boeing 2003). As a result of that instance the entire company has had to undergo extensive ethics training to prove that we are an ethically based corporation that is worthy of obtaining governmental contracts. It is with general opinion, that the 767 tanker program contract was lost due to the improprieties of a few key company officials with the previous two included (Topeka Journal 2008). The front line management’s responsibilities include taking time away from the production aspect of our company to deliver the mandatory training that we must take yearly. While a strong majority of the company is ethically upstanding, it only takes a few to bring shame to an otherwise fine company.

Long range business plans are developed by the senior managers to determine which course of business the company or organization is going to take in the coming years. A long range business plan of The Boeing Company is to design and build a jet that will meet the needs of the airlines demand of a twin aisle aircraft that will hold two hundred fifty to three hundred people and make long flights of up to nine thousand nautical miles while costing approximately twenty percent less to operate than craft in their fleet. Through thorough research and development The Boeing Company rolled out the 787 Dreamliner on July 8th, 2007 in Everett, WA. The senior managers came up with the plans and the front line managers are there developing tactical plans on how to make the LRBP both cost effective and produce a result that the airline operators will continue to buy and fly for many years similar to the success of the 747. The 787 program has been plagued with issues of material shortages (Profession Engineering, 2008) that are causing the first line managers to develop contingency plans to address these shortcomings. There is a world-wide shortage of titanium fasteners that is hampering not only the production of our newest plane, but those aircraft and programs of our suppliers and competitors. In response to the production issues that have plagued the program the first line managers are creating the contingency plans that need to be in place for the program to complete and deliver the aircraft. Boeing personnel are being dispatched to our world wide suppliers to aid them in any production issues that they may have. Production workers with technical knowledge and expertise are being allocated and re-assigned from many different organizations company wide to bring relief to the already strained resources deployed. The organization that I work for is losing people of many different disciplines from management to procurement to engineering in support of the 787