Planning — notes

Management works through five functions:

• Planning — deciding in advance what to do and how.
• Organising — identifying and grouping tasks, assigning them and allocating resources.
• Staffing — filling posts with the right people and keeping them filled.
• Directing — guiding, motivating, leading and communicating with people.
• Controlling — comparing actual results with planned standards and correcting deviations.

The functions form a cycle: controlling feeds back into fresh planning.

Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who is to do it. It bridges the gap between where we are and where we want to be. It is the primary function: the other functions work within the framework of plans.

Importance:

• Provides direction — everyone knows the goal.
• Reduces the risk of uncertainty — it foresees changes and prepares for them.
• Reduces overlapping and wasteful activities — it coordinates work.
• Promotes innovative ideas — thinking ahead brings new ideas.
• Facilitates decision making — alternatives are weighed before choosing.
• Establishes standards for controlling — planned targets become yardsticks.

1. Setting objectives — what is to be achieved.
2. Developing premises — assumptions about future conditions.
3. Identifying alternative courses of action — every way of reaching the objective.
4. Evaluating alternative courses — weighing merits and demerits of each.
5. Selecting an alternative — choosing the best, or a combination.
6. Implementing the plan — putting it into action with people and resources.
7. Follow-up action — monitoring progress and revising the plan if needed.

• Leads to rigidity — managers feel bound to the plan and may miss new chances.
• May not work in a dynamic environment — premises can turn out wrong.
• Reduces creativity — when plans come only from the top, others stop offering ideas.
• Involves huge costs — surveys, experts and data cost money.
• Time-consuming — detailed plans can delay action.
• Does not guarantee success — results depend on implementation and on events.

These limits can be reduced by reviewing plans often, keeping back-up plans, inviting ideas from all levels and keeping small plans simple.

• Objectives — end results to be achieved, ideally specific, measurable and time-bound.
• Strategies — comprehensive plans setting long-term direction, how to compete and how to use resources.
• Policies — general statements that guide decisions, leaving room for judgement.
• Procedures — the steps of a routine job in a fixed chronological order.
• Methods — the prescribed way of doing one task or step.
• Rules — exact statements of what must or must not be done; no discretion; usually a penalty.
• Budgets — expected results expressed in numbers for a future period.
• Programmes — detailed plans for one project, combining tasks, people, time and money.