What is management guidance? Simply put, it’s a form of coaching that involves helping employees achieve their goals while giving them the freedom to make decisions. Good managers are attentive to employees’ needs and show a keen interest in the organization’s objectives. They act as mentors and give their employees a sense of ownership over their work, rather than giving orders. In addition, good managers give their employees the freedom to come up with their own solutions and methods for achieving their goals, even if they need some supervision or oversight to help them reach their goal.
During the dot-com bubble, some analysts stopped providing guidance. Companies claimed that it encourages short-term thinking. However, removing guidance won’t change the market’s focus. After all, Wall Street executives get paid by the year, and they get paid more if they outperform the market. In short, management guidance is a useful tool for swaying investors. However, it’s not always clear when management expectations change.
Fortunately, there are some key differences among the three types of management guidance. For instance, the model developed by the PAMF includes a state-and-transition model that can predict whether a unit will progress from one state to another. This model updates yearly based on post-treatment data, while the guidance is still the best option based on current understanding of the impacts of management. This way, we can be confident that our decisions are informed by the latest research.
The OCC recently published a FAQ document aimed at clarifying the guidance. The guidance addresses 27 questions and puts existing guidance into context. However, the FAQ should not be outdated quickly, because it’s more likely to be a “flash” document. Rather, it should be made to stand the test of time. So, the OCC FAQ has been a good example of how to avoid that. A good example of this is the OCC FAQ, which answers frequently asked questions about OCC2020.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the global economy, it also presents a unique case study for firms’ behavior in the absence of guidance. During the pandemic, many U.S. public firms withdrew management guidance. In contrast, only a small number of companies had announced such guidance before the pandemic hit. The large increase in guidance withdrawals has generated a lot of attention, but little is known about the specific causes of the outbreak.