What Is Planning?

• Planning
A primary managerial activity that involves:
❖ Defining the organization’s goals
❖ Establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals
❖ Developing plans for organizational work activities.
Types of planning
❖ Informal: not written down, short-term focus; specific to an
organizational unit.
❖ Formal: written, specific, and long-term focus, involves
shared goals for the organization.

7–1
Why Do Managers Plan?
• Purposes of Planning
Provides direction
Reduces uncertainty
Minimizes waste and redundancy
Sets the standards for controlling

7–2
Planning and Performance
• The Relationship Between Planning And
Performance
Formal planning is associated with:
❖ Higher profits and returns on assets.
❖ Positive financial results.
The quality of planning and implementation affects
performance more than the extent of planning.
The external environment can reduce the impact of
planning on performance,
Formal planning must be used for several years
before planning begins to affect performance.

7–3
How Do Managers Plan?
• Elements of Planning
Goals (also Objectives)
❖ Desired outcomes for individuals, groups, or entire
organizations
❖ Provide direction and evaluation performance criteria
Plans
❖ Documents that outline how goals are to be accomplished
❖ Describe how resources are to be allocated and establish
activity schedules

7–4
Planning process
• Analysing environment/ Situation analysis
• Establishing objectives or goals in the light of the
environmental scanning
• Seeking necessary Information
• Establishing the planning premises
• Identifying the alternative course of action
• Evaluating the alternatives
• Selecting the alternative or Course of action
• Formulation of derivative plans and development
of specific action plans

7–5
Types of Goals
• Financial Goals
Are related to the expected internal financial
performance of the organization.
• Strategic Goals
Are related to the performance of the firm relative to
factors in its external environment (e.g., competitors).
• Stated Goals versus Real Goals
Broadly-worded official statements of the organization
(intended for public consumption) that may be
irrelevant to its real goals (what actually goes on in
the organization).

7–6
Exhibit 7–2 Types of Plans

7–7
Types of Plans
• Strategic Plans
Apply to the entire organization.
Establish the organization’s overall goals.
Seek to position the organization in terms of its
environment.
Cover extended periods of time.
• Operational Plans
Specify the details of how the overall goals are to be
achieved.
Cover short time period.

7–8
Types of Plans (cont’d)
• Long-Term Plans
Plans with time frames extending beyond three years
• Short-Term Plans
Plans with time frames on one year or less
• Specific Plans
Plans that are clearly defined and leave no room for
interpretation
• Directional Plans
Flexible plans that set out general guidelines, provide
focus, yet allow discretion in implementation.

7–9
Types of Plans (cont’d)
• Single-Use Plan
A one-time plan specifically designed to meet the
need of a unique situation.

Strategy, Programmes, projects,budgets

• Standing Plans
Ongoing plans that provide guidance for activities
performed repeatedly.

• Policies, procedures, rules , methods

7–10
Establishing Goals and
Developing Plans
• Traditional Goal Setting
Broad goals are set at the top of the organization.
Goals are then broken into subgoals for each
organizational level.
Assumes that top management knows best because
they can see the “big picture.”
Goals are intended to direct, guide, and constrain
from above.
Goals lose clarity and focus as lower-level managers
attempt to interpret and define the goals for their
areas of responsibility.

7–11
Exhibit 7–4 The Downside of Traditional Goal Setting

7–12
Establishing Goals and Developing
Plans (cont’d)
• Maintaining the Hierarchy of Goals
Means–Ends Chain
❖ The integrated network of goals that results from establishing
a clearly-defined hierarchy of organizational goals.
❖ Achievement of lower-level goals is the means by which to
reach higher-level goals (ends).

7–13
Establishing Goals and Developing
Plans (cont’d)
• Management By Objectives (MBO)
Specific performance goals are jointly determined by
employees and managers.
Progress toward accomplishing goals is periodically
reviewed.
Rewards are allocated on the basis of progress
towards the goals.
Key elements of MBO:
❖ Goal specificity, participative decision making, an explicit
performance/evaluation period, feedback

7–14
Exhibit 7–5 Steps in a Typical MBO Program

1. The organization’s overall objectives and strategies are

formulated.
2. Major objectives are allocated among divisional and departmental
units.
3. Unit managers collaboratively set specific objectives for their
units with their managers.
4. Specific objectives are collaboratively set with all department
members.
5. Action plans, defining how objectives are to be achieved, are
specified and agreed upon by managers and employees.
6. The action plans are implemented.
7. Progress toward objectives is periodically reviewed, and
feedback is provided.
8. Successful achievement of objectives is reinforced by
performance-based rewards.

7–15
Does MBO Work?
• Reason for MBO Success
Top management commitment and involvement
• Potential Problems with MBO Programs
Not as effective in dynamic environments that require
constant resetting of goals.
Overemphasis on individual accomplishment may
create problems with teamwork.
Allowing the MBO program to become an annual
paperwork shuffle.

7–16
Exhibit 7–6 Characteristics of Well-Designed Goals

• Written in terms of • Challenging yet attainable

outcomes, not actions Low goals do not motivate.
Focuses on the ends, not High goals motivate if they
the means. can be achieved.
• Measurable and • Written down
quantifiable Focuses, defines, and
Specifically defines how the makes goals visible.
outcome is to be measured • Communicated to all
and how much is expected. necessary organizational
• Clear as to time frame members
How long before measuring Puts everybody “on the
accomplishment. same page.”

7–17
Steps in Goal Setting
1. Review the organization’s mission statement.
Do goals reflect the mission?
2. Evaluate available resources.
Are resources sufficient to accomplish the mission?
3. Determine goals individually or with others.
Are goals specific, measurable, and timely?
4. Write down the goals and communicate them.
Is everybody on the same page?
5. Review results and whether goals are being met.
What changes are needed in mission, resources, or goals?

7–18
Developing Plans
• Contingency Factors in A Manager’s Planning
Manager’s level in the organization
❖ Strategic plans at higher levels
❖ Operational plans at lower levels
Degree of environmental uncertainty
❖ Stable environment: specific plans
❖ Dynamic environment: specific but flexible plans
Length of future commitments
❖ Commitment Concept: current plans affecting future
commitments must be sufficiently long-term to meet those
commitments.

7–19
Exhibit 7–7 Planning in the Hierarchy of Organizations

7–20
Approaches to Planning
• Establishing a formal planning department
A group of planning specialists who help managers
write organizational plans.
Planning is a function of management; it should never
become the sole responsibility of planners.
• Involving organizational members in the process
Plans are developed by members of organizational
units at various levels and then coordinated with other
units across the organization.

7–21
Contemporary Issues in Planning
• Criticisms of Planning
Planning may create rigidity.
Plans cannot be developed for dynamic
environments.
Formal plans cannot replace intuition and creativity.
Planning focuses managers’ attention on today’s
competition not tomorrow’s survival.
Formal planning reinforces today’s success, which
may lead to tomorrow’s failure.

7–22
Contemporary Issues in Planning
(cont’d)
• Effective Planning in Dynamic Environments
Develop plans that are specific but flexible.
Understand that planning is an ongoing process.
Change plans when conditions warrant.
Persistence in planning eventually pay off.
Flatten the organizational hierarchy to foster the
development of planning skills at all organizational
levels.

7–23
THANK YOU

7–24