TYPES OF PLANNING

Plans commit individuals, departments, organizations, and the resources of each to specific actions for the future. Effectively designed organizational goals fit into a hierarchy so that the achievement of goals at low levels permits the attainment of high-level goals. This process is called a means-ends chain because low-level goals lead to accomplishment of high-level goals. Three major types of plans can help managers achieve their organization's goals: strategic, tactical, and operational. Operational plans lead to the achievement of tactical plans, which in turn lead to the attainment of strategic plans. In addition to these three types of plans, managers should also develop a contingency plan in case their original plans fail.

Operational plans
The specific results expected from departments, work groups, and individuals are the operational goals. These goals are precise and measurable. Process 150 sales applications each week or Publish 20 books this quarter are examples of operational goals. An operational plan is one that a manager uses to accomplish his or her job responsibilities. Supervisors, team leaders, and facilitators develop operational plans to support tactical plans (see the next section). Operational plans can be a singleuse plan or an ongoing plan. Single-use plans apply to activities that do not recur or repeat. A one-time occurrence, such as a special sales program, is a single-use plan because it deals with the who, what, where, how, and how much of an activity. A budget is also a single-use plan because it predicts sources and amounts of income and how much they are used for a specific project. Continuing or ongoing plans are usually made once and retain their value over a period of years while undergoing periodic revisions and updates. The following are examples of ongoing plans: A policy provides a broad guideline for managers to follow when dealing with important areas of decision making. Policies are general statements that explain how a manager should attempt to handle routine management responsibilities. Typical human resources policies, for example, address such matters as employee hiring, terminations, performance appraisals, pay increases, and discipline. A procedure is a set of step-by-step directions that explains how activities or tasks are to be carried out. Most organizations have procedures for purchasing supplies and equipment, for example. This procedure usually begins with a supervisor completing a purchasing requisition. The requisition is then sent to the next level of management for approval. The approved requisition is forwarded to the purchasing department. Depending on the amount of the request, the purchasing department may place an order, or they may need to secure quotations

and/or bids for several vendors before placing the order. By defining the steps to be taken and the order in which they are to be done, procedures provide a standardized way of responding to a repetitive problem. A rule is an explicit statement that tells an employee what he or she can and cannot do. Rules are do and don't statements put into place to promote the safety of employees and the uniform treatment and behavior of employees. For example, rules about tardiness and absenteeism permit supervisors to make discipline decisions rapidly and with a high degree of fairness.

Tactical plans
A tactical plan is concerned with what the lower level units within each division must do, how they must do it, and who is in charge at each level. Tactics are the means needed to activate a strategy and make it work. Tactical plans are concerned with shorter time frames and narrower scopes than are strategic plans. These plans usually span one year or less because they are considered short-term goals. Long-term goals, on the other hand, can take several years or more to accomplish. Normally, it is the middle manager's responsibility to take the broad strategic plan and identify specific tactical actions.

Strategic plans
A strategic plan is an outline of steps designed with the goals of the entire organization as a whole in mind, rather than with the goals of specific divisions or departments. Strategic planning begins with an organization's mission. Strategic plans look ahead over the next two, three, five, or even more years to move the organization from where it currently is to where it wants to be. Requiring multilevel involvement, these plans demand harmony among all levels of management within the organization. Top-level management develops the directional objectives for the entire organization, while lower levels of management develop compatible objectives and plans to achieve them. Top management's strategic plan for the entire organization becomes the framework and sets dimensions for the lower level planning.

STEPS OF PLANNING
The process of planning involves the following steps Analysing environment. At the outset the internal andexternal environment is analyzed in order to identifycompany ;s strengths and weaknesses (in internal environment)and

opportunities and threats (existing in theexternal environment) this is also known as SWOT (StrengthsWeaknesses Opportunities and Threats ) analysis . Establishing objectives or goals in the light of theenvironmental scanning (study)clear or probable opportunities that can be availed are identified in order to avail them objectives or goals are clearly defined in specificterms along with priorities in all the key areas of operations major problems associated with such objectives are also identified and defined ,so that there may be special emphasis on their planned solutions. Seeking necessary Information : All relevant data and facts are collected from internal and external sources such as Availability of supplies, physical and human recourses of the company , finance of disposal, relevant government policy etc then such collected information and factors are analyzed. These information can be used in two ways 1. To make necessary modifications in objective and goals

2. To take help them in premising assumption.

3. Establishing the planing premises

4. In order to develop consistent and coordinate plans ,it is necessary that planing is based upon carefully considered assumption and predictions 5.

6. Identifying the alternative course of action.

7. After established the goals or objective and taking other related steps , feasible alternative programs or course of action are searched out . Impossible or highly difficult propositions are left out . 8.

9. Evaluating the alternatives.

10. Problems consequences of each alternative course of action in terms of its pros and cons (eg Cost, benefits, risks etc) are assessed and then relative importance of each of them is found out by looking at their overall individualstrengths and limitations especially in the light of present objective and the environment of the company. 11.

12.

Selecting the alternative or Course of action.

13. The alternative which appears to be most feasible and conducive to the accomplishment of companys objective, is selecting the final plan of action as strategy.

DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Define the problem:
In any problem, you have to establish the causes and the symptoms. Knowing the causes, you can recommend a solution just as a doctor does. Unfortunately, most often there are different possible solutions such as A, B, and C. What is more you do not know the chances of success of A, B, or C!

Automatic decision process

Of course, you can never prevent these events to occur because zero risk never exists. Nevertheless, you can reduce the probability of the risks. -Firstly, adopt and implement some preventive measures: Reinforce the defenses of the bank. Have a good driver and maintenance for your tourist bus. Have good anti virus for your internet site and so on. It does not prevent the risk but just reduce its probability. -Secondly, according to your risk assessment matrix, establish the best emergency plans. -Thirdly, you must be aware that once the event occurs, most people are in panic . In this case, the best plan becomes ineffective because people are emotionally unable to apply it. It means that you have to prepare for a chain of automatic decisions that everybody can follow up without having to think. These prepared decision and automatic procedures will enable you to act like an automat. Everything will be easier and you will face a crisis with no more stress than when you are driving in a traffic jam!

PROACTIVE DECISION
Fortunately, proactive decisions are more frequent than reactive decisions. We recall you that daily business decisions and solutions rely on well known tools that you will learn in the further modules. Once again, I precise that we are only dealing with global decisions. The decision making progress implies a phase of preparation and a phase of execution.

-Preparation:
Preparation is a must. You know the event:("Do I start a business or not") but you do not know the consequences: Is it a good decision? What are the probabilities to do well or inversely to be impoverished?

-Define the problem:

In any problem, you have to establish the causes and the symptoms. Knowing the causes, you can recommend a solution just as a doctor does.

Unfortunately, most often there are different possible solutions such as A, B, and C. What is more you do not know the chances of success of A, B, or C!

-Collect information's:
One way for reducing uncertainty is to collect information's. For example: Will you partner with company A? This company can be good, medium or bad. For reducing this uncertainty, you can collect information's from your bank or other sources. Unfortunately, sensible information's are not on the market place and require to enter in the domain of intelligence .

M B O (MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES)

The concept of Management by Objectives (MBO) was first given by Peter Drucker in 1954. It can be defined as a process whereby the employees and the superiors come together to identify common goals, the employees set their goals to be achieved, the standards to be taken as the criteria for measurement of their performance and contribution and deciding the course of action to be followed. The essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of the employees actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when employees themselves have been involved with the goal setting and the choosing the course of action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfill their responsibilities.

THE MBO PROCESS

UNIQUE FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES OF MBO

The principle behind Management by Objectives (MBO) is to create empowered employees who have clarity of the roles and responsibilities expected from them, understand their objectives to be achieved and thus help in the achievement of organizational as well as personal goals. Some of the important features and advantages of MBO are:

Clarity of goals With MBO, came the concept of SMART goals i.e. goals that are: Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic, Time

and bound.

The goals thus set are clear, motivating and there is a linkage betweenorganizational goals and performance targets of the employees.

The focus is on future rather than on past. Goals and standards are set for the performance for the future with periodic reviews and feedback.

Motivation Involving employees in the whole process of goal setting and increasing

employee empowerment increases employee job satisfaction and commitment.

Better communication and Coordination Frequent reviews and interactions between superiors and subordinates helps to maintain harmonious relationships within the enterprise and also solve many problems faced during the period