Joseph and Krystal are part of your social group. They joined Missile’s Financial Services together as middle managers. Each one, reports to a different senior manager. These senior managers report to the Managing Director. Once a month after payday, Joseph, Krystal and other members of the social group all try to have lunch together. Joseph is very distressed. ‘I’ve had an awful week and this morning was the worst!’ He recounts what happen between himself and Nicholas, his manager. ‘Nicholas and I were to meet with a new supplier to finalize a contract. I have been dealing with the supplier all this time, over two and a half months and we just needed to finalize the costing. We had reached an agreement about the cost that both of us were comfortable with. For the past two weeks, I have been trying to get Nicholas to look at the contract and agree the figures etc. We really need this guy’s company. They are fast and have a great reputation for products and services. The price is good and they are willing to customize the stationary, with no additional cost to us. Anyway, Nicholas was always too busy to meet. I emailed him the contract and my teams thoughts on how we should proceed hoping he would read it.’ My team consists of the Accounts/Finance Manager, Inventory Manager, Legal Officer, Research & Development Manager, Public Relations Manager and I, meet at different times and days. ‘Anyway, Nicholas and I, met with the supplier this morning. We are going through the contract, the next thing I know Nicholas says, ‘This won’t work for us. The cost is too high. Where did these calculations come from? ‘If the floor had opened up and swallowed me I could have not been more embarrassed. I mean I spent three weeks, working on it with the team Accounting, PR, Legal and others! Joseph shaking his head continued, ‘he just took over the conversation. I mean we got the contract signed but in the end all that happened was that the figures were rearranged and we still end up paying the same.’ ‘I am tired of this foolishness. He stays locked in his office on his cell every day. Only God knows what he does in there.’ In this course, we are introduced to management functions, POLC. A. Looking at the Planning function, Unit 3 - State your understanding of the planning function and its importance in the work place - design a simple protocol, listing 2 approaches within planning, that would avoid a repeat of the incident at the meeting between Nicholas, Joseph and supplier. B. Whilst it appears that Joseph did not have control at the meeting in laying out costs and how arrived at as per the meetings held with his team members and supplier, in 300 words or less, in your opinion, did Joseph meet his goal, within the controlling function? Justify all arguments with information provided in the units.