What are managers at strategic level responsible for?
Managers at this level within an organisation generally set organisational objectives and plan how to achieve them. For this reason, it is also known as the planning level. They must deal with long-term plans that are concerned with securing the company’s future.
Historical information is collected (both from within and outside the organisation) and used at this level by senior managers to:
plan the objectives of the organisation (futuristic planning)
assess whether or not objectives are being met.
The information which managers at strategic level typically require includes:
• overall profitability
• economics – at micro and macro level
• profitability of different segments of the business
• future market prospects
• social and demographic trends
• availability and cost of raising new funds
• total cash needs
• total manning levels
• capital equipment needs
• competitors’ activities
• legislation.
• Strategic information will be used for strategic planning and decisions of a long-term nature.
What are managers at tactical level responsible for?
Managers at this level gather information (predominantly from within the organisation) on a weekly or monthly basis in order to plan for the medium term. This is also known as the information level. Information that is several years old is used for measuring past and current performance.
They are likely to need information on the resources available to them in order to decide how to allocate these resources effectively, within budget, therefore tactical information is likely to have an accounting emphasis, which means that it may be quite regular and routine. It might include:
