Taking into account the cultural side of management presupposes an understand-ing of the way people's minds can be programmed differently by their different lifeexperiences. Patterns and models of behaviour between subordinates andsuperiors, among colleagues, and towards clients in the work situation have beenset outside the work situation: between children and parents in the family (startingright at birth), among siblings and friends, between students and teachers,among citizens and authorities. The assumption of a collective programming ofpeople's minds does not mean that everybody in a society is programmed inexactly the same way (there are wide differences among individuals and amongsubgroups of individuals) but the collective programming which I call cultureshould be seen as a collective component shared in the minds of otherwisedifferent individuals and absent in the minds of individuals belonging to a differentsociety.Planning is a part of management which may or may not be attached to aspecialist function. What was stated above for management in general, alsoapplies to planning in particular. Planning is also a symbolic activity, which may ormay not have an impact on what happens afterwards. Even if it has not, it will insome culture still be functional because it allows management to feel secure.