Anglistics Study Programme

6 Planning and
Decision Making
Business English I

Anglistics Study Programme

www.singidunum.ac.rs/admission
 Anglistics Study Programme

Planning is choosing a goal and developing a method or

strategy to achieve that goal

Advantages Disadvantages
• Intensified effort, • It can impede change
• Persistence and prevent adaptation
• Direction • Creates a false sense
of certainty
• Creation of task
strategies • Detachment of
planners
• Larger profits

Source: Williams, C. (2012) MGMT 4, Management, South-Western, Cengage Learning, USA 2

 Anglistics Study Programme

How to make a plan that works?

SMART goals
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
3
Source: Williams, C. (2012) MGMT 4, Management, South-Western, Cengage Learning, USA
Timely
Anglistics Study Programme

Elements of Planning

Vision Mission Goals Strategy Plans

Anglistics Study Programme

• Vision statement – what an organization wants

to be
• Mission statement – a statement of purpose, its
reason for existing
• Strategy – a plan of action

Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle
Anglistics Study Programme

Types of Plans
• Strategic Plans – Top management
• Apply to the entire organization.
• Establish the organization’s overall goals.
• Seek to position the organization in terms of its environment.
• Cover extended periods of time (2-5 years)
• Broad
• Tactical plans – Middle management
• How resources will be used
• 6 months – 2 years
• Operational Plans – First line managers
• Specify the details of how the overall goals are to be achieved.
• Cover short time period (day-to-day plans).
• Narrow – encompass particular operational area

6
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Anglistics Study Programme

Setting Goals and Developing Plans

• Management By Objectives (MBO) – often used in
tactical planning
• Specific performance goals are jointly determined by employees
and managers.
• Progress toward accomplishing goals is periodically reviewed.
• Rewards are allocated on the basis of progress towards the
goals.
• Motivating employees

7
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Anglistics Study Programme

Operational plans
• Single-Use Plans
• A one-time plan specifically designed to meet the
need of a unique situation.
• Standing Plans
• Ongoing plans that provide guidance for activities
performed repeatedly.
• Include policies, procedures, rules and regulations.
• Budgets – quantitative planning

8
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Anglistics Study Programme

Standing plans
• Policy
• A general guideline for making decisions.
• Procedure
• A series of interrelated steps that a manager can
use to respond to a well-structured problem
(applying a policy).
• Rule
• An explicit statement that limits what managers or
employees can or cannot do.

9
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
 Anglistics Study Programme

Decision Making
• Decision making - the process of choosing a solution from
available alternatives
• Rational decision – making: a systematic process of
defining problems, evaluating alternatives, and choosing
optimal solutions
• Every planning is decision-making.

10
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Anglistics Study Programme

Rational decision-making process

• Define the problem
• Identify decision criteria
• Weight the criteria
• Generate alternative courses of action
• Evaluate each alternative
• Compute the optimal decision

11
Anglistics Study Programme

Rational decision-making
process
• Problem - a discrepancy between an existing and
desired state of affairs.
• Decision criteria are factors that are relevant to
resolving the problem, or standards used to guide
judgments and decisions
• Assigning weight to each item places the items in the
correct priority order of their importance in the decision
making process.
• Alternatives are listed (without evaluation)
• Appraising each alternative’s strengths and
weaknesses

12
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Anglistics Study Programme

Making Decisions: Bounded

Rationality
• Managers make decisions rationally, but are limited
(bounded) by time, money or their ability to process
information.
• Satisfying alternative—choose the first alternative
encountered that satisfactorily solves the problem
(good enough)—rather than maximize the outcome

13
Source: Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management 10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Anglistics Study Programme

Conflict

Cognitive Affective
• Problem and issue • Emotional reactions:
related differences hostility, anger,
resentment, distrust

Devil’s advocacy – a group or an individual is assigned a role of a critic

14
Anglistics Study Programme

Group Decision Making Techniques

• Nominal Group technique – group member quietly

write down and evaluate issues to be shared with the
group
• Delphi technique - members of a panel of experts
respond to questions until reaching agreement
• Brainstorming (electronic brainstorming) – group
members build on each other’s ideas

15
Anglistics Study Programme

Sources:

• Robbins, S.P., Coulter, M. (2009) Management

10th ed., Pearson Education, Inc., Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey
• Williams, C. (2012) MGMT 4, Management,
South-Western, Cengage Learning, USA

16