In this tutorial, we will learn about planning, which is a process of thinking about the activities required to achieve the desired goal.
That is the first and foremost activity to achieve the results. It involves the creation and maintenance of a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills.
It is forecasting and deciding in advance a course of action to be followed as activities to be pursued in the future. It is the rational approach to the future.
It is the first and foremost activity to achieve the desired results. It involves the creation and maintenance of a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills.
There are even a couple of tests to measure someone’s capability of planning well. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. A further valuable meaning, often just called planning, is the legal context of permitted building developments.
It has a specific process and is necessary for multiple occupations (particularly in fields such as management, business, etc.). In each area, there are different types of plans that help companies achieve efficiency and effectiveness.
An important, albeit often ignored aspect of planning, is the relationship it holds to forecasting. Forecasting can predict what the future will look like, whereas the plan predicts what the future should look like for multiple scenarios.
Planning combines forecasting with the preparation of situations and how to react to them. That is one of the essential project management and time management techniques. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal.
If a person does it effectively, they can reduce much the necessary time and effort to achieve the goal. A plan is like a map: When the following an idea, a person can see how much they have progressed towards their project goal and how far they are from their destination.
Definition of Planning:
“It is the selecting and relating of facts and the making and using of assumptions regarding the future in the visualization and formulation of proposed activities believed necessary to achieve desired results.”
‘George R Terry.’
“IT means deciding in the present what to do in the future. It is a process whereby companies reconcile their resources with their objective and opportunities.” ‘Philip Kotler’
Features of Planning:
- It is a mental process.
- It is a primary function.
- It is a continuous process and service.
- Pervasive service- It permeates at all levels and all departments of an organization.
Importance/Functions/Merits of Planning:
- It creates employees conscious of the enterprise’s objectives.
- It influences the efficacy of other managerial functions.
- It provides a valuable managerial tool for the future.
- It helps in controlling management.
- It leads to the economy in operation.
Demerits/Limitations of Planning:
- It is not entirely reliable as it is done based on predictions.
- Rapid changes in the business environment bring instability and make planning job more difficult.
- It cannot be done with old philosophies of management or with their concepts and beliefs in mind.
Procedural and policy rigidities come in the way of planning.