This document discusses various aspects of planning including definitions, purposes, and types of plans. It defines planning as a process of setting objectives by analyzing information to select courses of action to achieve goals. It notes that planning is the primary function of management, is goal-oriented, intellectual, pervasive, continuous, integrates activities, and effects efficiency. The document also discusses types of plans including objectives, policies, procedures, methods, rules, programs, projects, and budgets.

1. Prasanth.S.R
Assistant Professor of
Commerce Education
[ M.Com., M.Ed. ]

3. PLANNING
Planning is a process of setting objectives by way of
gathering information & analysing it to forecast the future
situations and select suitable course of action from available
alternatives, following which the objectives can be achieved. It
involves deciding in advance what to do, when to do, where to
do, how to do and who is to do and how the results are to be
evaluated.

5. Planning is Primary Function
Planning is the primary function of management, without
planning nothing is defined in the organization i.e. what they
wanted to achieve and do, what is the guidelines etc. according
to Koontz planning provide the basic foundation from which all
future management function arise.

6. Planning is Goal Oriented
Planning is process of defining and achieving the
goals, there can’t be any planning without any goal in
sight or any path to achieve that goal.

7. Planning is intellectual process
Planning is an intellectual process where thinking and
analysing of the available information is done by an
individual or group to predict future and make a
selection from the available alternative. Plans are
drawn on a careful study of internal and external factors
influencing business activities.

8. Planning is all pervasive
Planning is required at all levels of management,
whether top, middle or lower levels of management all
required to do planning, no activity is done without a
plan behind it.

9. Planning is continuous process
Planning is a continuous activity, the objectives
and steps are defined, they are implemented and
changed according to requirements, once
achieved newer objectives are defined and the
process continues.

10. Planning integrates the different
activities
Planning integrates all the activities of the
organization to achieve the desired goals,
planning may set different targets for each unit or
departments but all the targets will be directed
towards achievement of the set goals.

11. Planning effect efficiency and
Effectiveness
Planning is done to select a suitable course of
action to reach out to goals, by doing the right
things in right manner, plans are made to utilize
the available resources to best of its use.

12. Planning involves alternatives and
choices
Planning is required when there are availability
of alternatives and power of making choices to
select an alternative, in case there is no
alternative which means only one path or
objective is available then there is no requirement
of planning.

13. Planning is future oriented
Planning is future oriented process, which
means through planning we try to predict the
future and prepare ourselves to perform better.
The seeds sown today will show the result
tomorrow.

14. Planning is flexible
Planning is future oriented and based on
forecasting and prediction, hence when the actual
situations turns out to be different than predicted
then plans has to be changed accordingly, so
plans are always flexible to an extent

16. Provides Direction
Planning provides the direction and sense of purpose
for the organization, planning provides the broad
targets to be achieved by the organization and also
define the guidelines in terms of policy and procedure
following which the organization try to achieve the set
targets. Without planning organization will not know
what they are doing, why they are doing any action.

17. Reduces risk of Uncertainty
Future is always full of uncertainties. A
business organization has to function in these
uncertainties. It can operate successfully if it is able to
predict the uncertainties. Some of the uncertainties can
be predicted by undertaking systematic forecasting.
Thus, planning helps in foreseeing uncertainties which
may be caused by changes in technology, federal rules,
fashion and choice of customers.

18. Unifying framework to achieve the objective
Basic characteristic of planning is related to the
organizational objectives. All the operations are
planned to achieve the organizational objectives.
Planning facilitates the achievement of objectives by
focusing attention on them. It requires the clear
definition of objectives so that the most appropriate
alternative courses of action are chosen.

19. Coordination
Planning helps in setting better coordination among
inter-departmental activity and clearly lay down the
area of freedom in the development of various sub-
plans. Various departments work in accordance with the
overall plans of the organization. Thus, there is
harmony in the organization, and duplication of efforts
and conflict of jurisdiction are avoided.

20. Economy in Operation
Planning ensures economical operations because of
emphasis on efficiency. Since planning involves the
selection of the best possible courses of action, it is
implied that best results would be achieved at the
least possible cost. Planning tries to eliminate
unproductive effort & helps to optimize resource
utilization and eliminate wastages.

21. Facilitation of Control
Planning ensure better control as when the activities
are done on a planned manner then it is easy to
evaluate them as we know what is predicted or
standard and what is actual, hence planning provides
parameters to know whether the actions are going
accordingly or not. This helps in rectifying any
deviations.

22. Encouragement to Innovation
Planning helps innovative and creative thinking
among the managers because many new ideas
come to the mind of a manager when he is
planning. It creates a forward-looking attitude
among the managers.

23. Increase in Competitive Strength
Effective planning gives a competitive edge to the
enterprise over other enterprises that do not have
planning or have ineffective planning. This is because
planning may involve expansion of capacity, changes in
work methods, changes in quality, anticipation of tastes
and fashion of people and technological changes.

24. Improves morale
Planning helps in defining the goals and the steps to
achieve them, which in turn helps in clearly defined
what is expected from the employees and how he is
going to achieve it, this helps in building positive morale
in the employees.

26. Objectives
Objectives are the goals, aims or basic purpose, that
organization wishes to achieve over varying periods of
time. Objectives are the ends towards which all
organizational activities are aimed. Objectives provide
unity of direction to all the functions of the
organization. Planning has no utility unless it is related
to certain pre-determined objectives.

27. Policies
Policies are the statement which acts as guiding
principles to govern action usually of routine
and repetitive nature. Policies define the framework
which guides thinking and action of the organizational
members. According to Sherwin Douglas, "Policy is
simply a statement of an organization’s intention to act
in certain ways when specific types of circumstances
arise. It represents a general decision, pre-determined
and expressed as a principle or rule, establishing a
normal pattern of conduct or dealing with given types
of business events, usually recurrent".

28. Procedures
A procedure is the defined series of related tasks or
activities that has to be followed in a chronological
sequence by which the work will be performed. It
denotes a list of systematic steps for handling events
that occur regularly. A procedure guides action and
decide what will be the outcome. Procedures involve
planned sequence of operations for handling recurring
business transactions uniformly and consistently. Every
organization may follow different steps for performance
appraisal or sanctioning of leave etc.

29. Methods
Methods are sub-units of a procedure; they show
clearly steps involved in a procedure. Methods indicate
the technique to be employed to make the procedure
effective. The primary focus is on finding out the best
way of doing a piece of work. For example, in a
manufacturing concern, product sampling may be a
method used as one part of a quality control procedure.

30. Rules
Rules are the statement defining what is expected and the
outcomes or decision that has to be taken in case there is non
conformities of the requirements, simplest and the most
specific type of standing plans, used for guiding what may or
may not be done. Rules are more rigid and demand a specific
action e.g. if rules doesn’t allow a worker to take a leave without
prior approval or information and allow a disciplinary action of
deducting wages for the day then any supervisor while dealing
with such case will deduct the wages for the day if any worker
take an unauthorized leave.

31. Programmes
A programme is a single-use plan which is developed for a
new and non-repetitive activity. It defines the steps in proper
sequence that will be taken for the purpose of achieving a
specific objective. A programme comprise of objectives,
policies, procedures, rules, budgets, etc. programmes are
devised to achieve an objective and require some special non
routine initiative, e.g. a company decide to diversify its business
from cement industry to retail or real estate business, under
such condition company will develop its diversification program
and define the objectives, policies etc.

32. Projects
A project is a specific plan to achieve a discrete and
well defined cluster of activities which will help
achieving the general objectives of the company. E.g. a
company setting up another production plant is a
project which will help the company in achieving the
general objective to be the largest cement company of
the area in terms of volume. Projects are separate from
normal operations because of its special significance.
Usually the task of executing a project is put under the
charge of a project manager.

33. Budgets
A budget is a statement of expected outcomes
expressed in numerical terms like cash outflow,
increase in productivity etc budget helps in
envisaging the resource requirement and the
expected outcomes of the activities. Act as a tool
of managerial control to regulate the resource
allocation and evaluate the results.

35. Lack of Accurate Information
The reliability of a plan depends upon facts
and information on which it is based. So the planning
will be successful only up to the degree of reliability of
the information available, planning is sure to lose much
of its relevance if the information is inaccurate and
unreliable.

36. Lack of Accurate Forecasts
Planning is future oriented activity and its success
depends on the accuracy of the forecasts or predictions
made, these forecasts or predictions depends on the
information and its analysis, which can not be
completely reliable and accurate hence, will have
certain degree of difference, sometimes the forecasting
is done more on subjective interpretation of the
information available.

37. Cost and time consuming complex Process
Planning is a complex and expensive process,
requiring time, money and managerial skills. The
collection of information, evaluation of alternatives,
selection etc. may consume lot of managerial time and
organizational resources.

38. Rigidities
Planning may result in internal inflexibilities
and procedural rigidities. As planning will decide
the policy and procedure hence the managers will
execute all their action guided by plans which will
restrict flexibility of decision making and actions

39. Lack of Specific Goals
Qualitative objectives like social responsibility,
management development, quality of work life, etc. are
often expressed in vague generalizations which defy
proper evaluation. Once these objectives conflict
with quantifiable ones, managers tend to ignore them
totally. Planning cannot be effective unless goals are
specific, clear and actionable.

40. Lack of Planning Skills
The plan depends upon the planner, without
appropriate skills of analysing information, prediction
and formulating a suitable action the planning will not
show desired results. Planning is an art and science
hence capability of one person will be different form
other in devising a suitable plan.

41. Resistance to Change
The planning is done usually by the top management
and for its implementation we require support of the
middle and lower level of management, the resistance
expressed by the employees also limit the effectiveness
of plan, as the lower level management perceives that
the conditions and situation which they face is unknown
to planners.

42. False sense of security
Planning also tend to create a false sense of security
in the organization, as organization thinks that by
following the plan in right perspective will yield the
desired result this make them a bit more careless, and
they ignore the changes in the market place resulting
into problems.