Definitive Business Plan, Second Edition, The

How much freedom?

You want your employees to try to achieve their objectives while operating within your plans, policies, rules and procedures. It is common to set limits on the amount of discretion permitted – at both the functional and the personal level. This might be related to general decision-making (the Chief Executive is authorized to operate the business within the business plan as approved providing that the following exceptional items are pre-approved by the Board of Directors on a case by case basis…). Or limits might be financial.

For example, department heads might be permitted to spend up to $10 000 in one month or on any one item, but your head of R&D has had his knuckles rapped for buying pointless electronic gadgets and his ...