Summary

Meaning of Planning: Deciding in advance what to do and how to do it. It is one of the basic managerial functions and bridges the gap between where we are and where we want to go. Planning therefore involves setting objectives and developing an appropriate course of action to achieve them.

Importance of Planning:

• Provides direction by stating in advance how work is to be done.
• Reduces the risks of uncertainty by anticipating change.
• Reduces overlapping and wasteful activities.
• Promotes innovative ideas.
• Facilitates decision making by helping managers choose among alternatives.
• Establishes standards for controlling.

Features of Planning:

• Focuses on achieving objectives: Planning is purposeful and has no meaning unless it contributes to organisational goals.
• Primary function: It precedes and provides the base for all other managerial functions.
• Pervasive: Required at all levels of management and in every department.
• Continuous: Plans are made for a period, and a new plan follows at the end of each cycle.
• Futuristic: A forward-looking function based on forecasting.
• Involves decision making: It requires choosing the best alternative from among the available ones.
• Mental exercise: An intellectual activity of thinking, requiring foresight and sound judgement.

Limitations of Planning:

• Leads to rigidity: Pre-decided plans can make managers inflexible when circumstances change.
• Reduces creativity: Members below the top level mostly implement plans, so their initiative is reduced.
• Involves huge costs: Time and money are spent in formulating detailed plans.
• Time-consuming: So much time may go into drawing up plans that little is left for implementation.
• May not work in a dynamic environment: A constantly changing environment makes accurate planning difficult.
• Does not guarantee success: A plan that worked before need not work again, and complacency can lead to failure.

Planning Process (steps in order):

1. Setting objectives.
2. Developing premises (assumptions about the future).
3. Identifying alternative courses of action.
4. Evaluating alternative courses.
5. Selecting an alternative.
6. Implementing the plan.
7. Follow-up action (monitoring to ensure objectives are achieved).

Types of Plans:

• Single-use plans: Developed for a one-time, non-recurring event or project (e.g., budgets, programmes and projects).
• Standing plans: Used repeatedly for activities that occur regularly (e.g., policies, procedures, methods and rules).
• Strategy is not classified as either single-use or standing; it is part of strategic planning.

Key Plan Types Defined:

• Objectives: The desired future position the management would like to reach — the ends the management seeks to achieve.
• Strategy: A comprehensive plan for accomplishing the organisation's objectives, considering the business environment and competition.
• Policy: A general statement that guides thinking and channelises energies in a particular direction. …