It's common sense to give each person a direction for their work, especially if you're in a management position. I have a low opinion of organizations that refuse to give clear job descriptions or that don't clarify their expectations to their employees.

I've held a position where my supervisors didn't have a clear vision for me, and in the end, after pouring my heart and soul and succeeding in many areas but failing to achieve unspoken expectations, I was let go because they wanted to take the job to a "new direction". It was really frustrating as an employee for my superiors to not have a clear goal in mind for me, and even worse after I was let go for it. I try to look at the experience as a learning one, but despite all the lessons and the valuable experience I gained, I could have been elsewhere forwarding my career instead of dancing around not knowing what my day-to-day tasks were.