Planning Work Activities

What do we learn?

a.     Nature and purposes of planning.

Ø  What is planning?

·         Planning: defining the organization’s goals, establishing strategies, and developing plans.

Ø  Why planning is important for managers?

·         Provides direction.

·         Reduces uncertainty.

·         Minimize waste and redundancy.

·         Establishes the goals or standards used in controlling.

Ø  Often called primary management function (it establishes the basis for all the other things managers do as they organize, lead, and control).

·         Goals (objectives): desired outcome/ targets.

·         Plans: documents that outline how goals are going to be met.

b.    Types of goals and plans organizations have and use.

Ø  Types of goals:

1.      Stated goals: Official statement of what an organization says and what the stakeholders believe in.

2.      Real goals: Those goals organizations actually pursues, observe what the organization members are doing.

Ø  Types of plans:

1.      Strategic plans: plans that apply to the entire organization and establish the organization’s overall goals.

2.      Operational plans: encompasses a practicular operational area of the organization.

3.      Long-term plans: plans with time frame beyond three years.

4.      Short-term plans: plans covering 1 year or less.

5.      Specific plans: clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation.

6.      Directional plans: flexible and set out general guidelines.

7.      Single use plan: a one time plan designed to meet the needs of a unique situation.

8.      Standing plans: ongoing plans that provide guidance for activities performed repeatedly.

c.      Setting goals and developing plans.

Ø  Traditional goal-setting: set by top managers flo down through the organization and become subgoals for each organizational area.

Ø  Means-ends chain: integrated network of goals in which the accomplishment of goals at one level serves as the means for achieving the goals, or ends, at the next level.

Ø  Management by objectives (MBO): process of setting mutually agreed upon goals and using those goals to evaluate employee performances.

Ø  5 step in goal-setting:

1.      Review the organization mission (the purpose of an organization).

2.      Evaluate available resources.

3.      Determine the goals individually or with input from others.

4.      Write down the goals and communicate them to all who need to know.

5.      Review results nad whether goals are being met.

Ø  Developing plans

·         3 contingency factors in planning;

1.      Organizational level.

2.      Degree of environmental uncertainty.

3.      Length f future commitments.

o   Commitment concepts: plans should be extended far enough to meet those commitments made when the plans were developed.

Ø  Approaches to planning

·         Formal planning department: a group of planning specialists whose solo responsibility is helping to write organizational plans.

d.      How to resolve contemporary issues in planning.

Ø  Environmental scanning: screening information to detect emerging trends.

Ø  Competitor intelligence: gathering information about competitors that allows managers to anticipate competitors’ actions rather than merely reacting to them.