Introduction to Planning in Detail
For any organization to function distinctively, there must be a plan which is to be devised before-hand. Planning is very important to a business. The top managers must plan their goals both short and long terms with their competent employees and their team of experts to analyze the pros and cons of the plan, the investment required in the plan, the return expected and so forth.
In this discussion, we will know about this managerial function of ‘Planning’ in detail. This is one of the important topics in the study of Business, hence the students must not exclude it.
Types of Planning
In an organization, various, different kinds of planning are included which serves a variety of purposes. As Planning is the most important fundamental, it is not to be compromised with a single plan applied universally in the whole organization. With each department specific need, workforce constituents, the different plans are devised. Predominantly, for the goal of the business, planning is done by the top-level managers, while short-term plans are done by the team leaders too in different departments.
Good Companies give priority to the planning process, as adequate management and competent leadership will follow only after effective planning is done. Companies are required to keep a track on the planning process, to be in sync with the predetermined process.
To Plan Better Companies, You Need to Take Care of The Following Things
Devise a Plan – Important goals needed to achieve, strength of the organization all are required to be forecasted before-hand. Devising a proven plan helps to visualize the goals with much before and thus take action in regard to that.
Define Success – Managers need to foresee where their business stands in the near future. They need to clearly define the milestones that they want to take step on and the same is required to be communicated to the employees.
Put in Action – After much planning, the final process that will actually will help in achieving the goals is to put the plan in action. With the required workforce, the company should start working in the attempt to achieve their set target.
Talking About the Types of Planning, we have
Operational Planning
Strategic Planning
Tactical Planning
Contingency Planning
Explain the Types of Planning
In the section discussed above, we have already mentioned the types of Planning. Here, we attempt to discuss in depth about the four types of Planning.
Operational Planning
Answering the question of “How things need to happen? What are the guidelines to accomplish the set mission?” describes an operational plan. This plan simply means the daily activities which are focused in achieving the goal. Operational Plans are generally the single used plans or the on going plan.
They can also be planned for one-time events or for a specific need. These plans include specific rules and regulations and procedures to stand by it. They provide an adequate guideline for the step to step processing of the work.
Strategic Planning
The reason for planning is chalked out in the strategic plan. Strategic plans are generally long-term thinking processes executed by the top-level managers. It is a big picture to cast a vision and requires mission processing.
It requires a high-level analysis of the entire business. Being the foundational basis of the organization, strategic planning dictates long term goals which normally tenures for two to ten years span.
Tactical Planning
Tactical Plan is the backbone of Strategic Plan. Generally speaking, they are focused, specific and short-term plans. They are the plans that initiate the actual work. Tactical plans form the outline of a strategic plan that eventually structures the organizational plan. Often the tenure of this plan is quite short and mostly lasts to one year. The strategic plans that get chunked into actionable plans are called Tactical Planning.
Contingency Planning
Contingencies might occur in business. To tackle the contingencies, the contingency planning is drafted. Thyer ae also named as ‘Special Planning’ by the business experts. In a situation of change, contingency planning proves to be helpful.
Though managers acknowledge the changes before-hand yet contingency plans help to tackle the unseen changes. With the complicated business world, the contingency plan becomes more of a use.
Types of Policies in Management
Different Policies are used in an organization, that is responsible for each purpose. Following are the types of policies that are being widely used in the business world. –
Organizational Policies – The policies decide the goal of an organization. They are the overall general policy that is administered in an organization.
Functional Policies – The policy is prepared for different functions, like production, marketing, finance and personnel. The functional policies are decided keeping in view of the organizational policies already structured.
Originated Policies – This is also known as the internal policy that prepares policies for subordinates. This policy is being drafted by their managers.
Specific Policies – These policies are formulated in regard to some specific issues.
FAQs on Types of Plan
1. Who are the top-level managers?
The top-level managers are the highest level of managers in the hierarchy chain of an organizational structure. They manage and moreover controls the entire organization who sets up goals, policies and plans for the organization to function on. They then delegate the work to the second level managers who engage their work team to complete the organizational goal. The Board of Directors, CEO, President and Vice President are included in the top-level management.
2. What are single use plans?
Single use plans are the non-recurring plans that are used specifically for a specific event. They occur once. These plans are mainly drafted by the second level staff.
3. What are the important components of strategic planning?
The important components of strategic planning are – Vision, Mission and Values. The three components make the strategic planning effective. Strategic planning as already discussed is the overall plan of the organization they clearly state - the vision that the company visualizes, the mission that is the sole priority and the values that is inculcated in the work culture of the organization.
4. What is meant by the term ‘Contingency’?
‘Contingency’ means any future event that might or might not happen, they cannot be predicted with full proof. Contingencies in business are frequent to occur, for a clothing brand, a new style can appear as a reason the current pattern becomes outdated and the new pattern becomes everyone’s fashion taste, in this situation the business organization resorts to Contingency Planning.
