Page 63 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Unit 3: Planning

Notes
machinery, materials, management) should be recoginised and given due weightage.
When ignored, the critical factor would seriously impact the process of planning
and make it impossible to achieve goals.

3.4 Characteristics of Planning

Planning has a number of characteristics:

1. Planning is goal-oriented: All plans arise from objectives. Objectives provide the basic
guidelines for planning activities. Planning has no meaning unless it contributes in some
positive manner to the achievement of predetermined goals.

2. Planning is a primary function: Planning is the foundation of management. It is a parent
exercise in management process. It is a preface to business activities.
3. Planning is all-pervasive: Planning is a function of all managers. It is needed and practised
at all managerial levels. Planning is inherent in everything a manager does. Managers
have to plan before launching a new business.
4. Planning is a mental exercise: Planning is a mental process involving imagination, foresight
and sound judgment. Planning compels managers to abandon guesswork and wishful
thinking.
5. Planning is a continuous process: Planning is continuous. It is a never-ending activity.
Once plans for a specific period are prepared, they are translated into action.

6. Planning involves choice: Planning essentially involves choice among various alternative
courses of action.
7. Planning is forward looking: Planning means looking ahead and preparing for the future.
It means peeping into the future, analysing it and preparing for it.
8. Planning is flexible: Planning is based on a forecast of future events. Since future is uncertain,
plans should be reasonably flexible.
9. Planning is an integrated process: Plans are structured in a logical way wherein every
lower-level plan serves as a means to accomplish higher level plans. They are highly
interdependent and mutually supportive.
10. Planning includes efficiency and effectiveness dimensions: Plans aim at deploying resources
economically and efficiently. They also try to accomplish what has been actually targeted.
The effectiveness of plans is usually dependent on how much it can contribute to the
predetermined objectives.

3.5 Traditional Objective Setting

An objective is a specific step, a milestone, which enables you to accomplish a goal. Setting
objectives involves a continuous process of research and decision-making. Knowledge of yourself
and your unit is a vital starting point in setting objectives.
Strategic planning takes place at the highest levels; other managers are involved with operational
planning. The first step in operational planning is defining objectives - the result expected by the
end of the budget (or other designated) cycle.
Setting right objectives is critical for effective performance management. Such objectives as
higher profits, shareholder value, customer satisfaction may be admirable, but they don’t tell
managers what to do. “They fail to specify priorities and focus. Such objectives don’t map the
journey ahead - the discovery of better value and solutions for the customer.”

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