Reading: The Planning Function
Business Management for Every Enterprise
Unit 2
The Planning Function
Planning
Planning includes all the activities that lead to the definition of objectives and to the determination of appropriate courses of action to achieve those objectives
Planning involves defining the organization’s goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals and developing plans for organizational work activities
It’s concerned with both ends (what needs to be done) and means (how its to be done)
They determine resource allocation (distribution), timetables and other necessary actions to accomplish the goals
Planning
It is the beginning of the process of management
Intellectual process – think before acting
Decision making is the integral part of planning
Continuous process
Flexible
All pervasive function – applicable across the different levels of management
Planning
Minimizes risk and uncertainty
Leads to success
Facilitates control
Trains all levels of management
Planning
Have a clear time frame for completing objectives
This includes having detailed goals and objectives concerning quality, primary markets, rollout schedule, etc.
Have an ongoing meaning and applications for an organization.
Types of Planning
Strategic Planning
- Comprehensive, long term and relatively general
- Focus on broad, enduring issues for ensuring a firm’s effectiveness over a long period of time
- States the organization’s mission and may describe a set of goals to move a company into future
Operational Planning
- Focused, short term and specific
- Translates the broad concepts of the strategic plan into clear numbers, specific steps and measurable objectives for the short term
- Requires efficient, cost effective application of resources to solving problems and meeting objectives
Tactical Planning
- Falls between strategic and operational planning
- More specific than strategic planning
- Deal with more issues of efficiency than with long term effectiveness