Making Planning Effective

Introduction

The plans used/made in an organization are not random but rather they are arranged in a hierarchy that corresponds to the organizations structure. At each level plans have two purposes:

    i.  They provide the means for achieving the objectives set in the plans of the next higher level.
    ii. They provide the objectives to be met by the plans in the next lower level.

As already discussed plans are of two major types:

    i.  Strategic plans which are designed to meet the broad objectives of the organization
    ii.  Operational plans which provide the details of how the strategic plans will be accomplished.

The operational plans are divided into two main types i.e. standing plans which are standardized approaches for dealing with recurrent and unpredictable situations and single use plans which are developed to achieve specific purposes and dissolved when these purposes have been achieved.

Standing plans include policies, standard procedures, rules and regulations. Once established standing plans allow managers to conserve time used for planning and decision making as similar situations are handled in a predetermined and consistent manner.
Single use plans include programs, projects and budgets. These are detailed courses of action that are unlikely to be repeated

Planning being a rational approach to accomplishing objectives should be a flexible process which takes into account the various changes taking place in and outside the organization.Objectives must be set in the light of the economic, social, cultural, political, technological, legal and ethical elements of the organizations environment.

The interactions of plans with every element of the environment are many and complex and they affect the efficiency and effectiveness of plans. But since planning is a vital part of all managerial jobs managers should strive to make it more effective by:

        i.  Understanding and following the steps in planning
        ii. Understanding the barriers to effective planning

Overcoming the barriers to effective planning