Santa Monica Institute of Tech.

Andrada Bldg. Poblacion, Iligan City

Module 1
Senior High School
Culminating Activities
1st Semester of A.Y. 2021-2022 Instructor: Ceasar Ian H. Mundala

Introduction
Culminating Activity is the last specialized subject in Humanities and Social Sciences because it is intended to allow students
to synthesize their understanding in the different study areas of the humanities and social sciences via a creative culminating
activity. It emphasizes real-world product and performance displays as evidence of their humanities and social science
coursework.

Using knowledge from a variety of specialty areas in Humanities and Social Sciences, you'll develop a method to demonstrate
the main concepts, principles, and processes of humanities and social sciences in this lesson.
Discussion

Lesson: Formulating a Plan

Activity 1: Recall the highlight activities that you have accomplished in the following subjects below. Write your answers on
your answer sheet.

 Philippine Politics and Governance

 Discipline and Ideas in the Social Sciences
 Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century

Now that you have chosen your springboard in accomplishing this subject, it is important to follow the step-by-step procedures
in implementing a program. As a social sciences advocate, the welfare of the community is one of the priori- ties.

Activity 2: Among the highlighted activities of the specialized subjects, identify one area that can be the springboard of a
possible culminating activity. Consider the needs of the community and the different aspects of the society including your home.
Write 1 paragraph of 7-8 sentences as your justification on choosing the high- lighted activity

Planning is one of the management responsibilities that should be considered. Prior to implementing a project, planning
entails making decisions. The project manager must determine what needs to be done, when and where the project will be carried
out, the procedure for carrying it out, and who will be participating in the project. It is a methodical procedure that prepares the
team to achieve the defined objectives as well as the activities that will be taken. Planning makes it possible to achieve specified
objectives.
Furthermore, planning entails thinking prior to putting ideas into action. The team could simply prepare for future issues and
how to cope with them as a result of this.
Planning is nothing but thinking before the action takes place. It helps us to take a peep into the future and decide in advance
the way to deal with the situations, which we are going to encounter in future. It involves logical thinking and rational decision
making.

Characteristics of Planning

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Managerial function: Planning is a first and foremost managerial function provides the base for other functions of the
management, i.e. Organizing, staffing, directing and controlling, as they are performed within the periphery of the plans made.

Goal oriented: It focuses on defining the goals of the organization, identifying alternative courses of action and deciding the
appropriate action plan, which is to be undertaken for reaching the goals.

Pervasive: It is pervasive in the sense that it is present in all the segments and is required at all the levels of the organization.
Although the scope of planning varies at different levels and departments.

Continuous Process: Plans are made for a specific term, say for a month, quarter, year and so on. Once that period is over, new
plans are drawn, considering the organization present and future requirements and conditions. Therefore, it is an ongoing process,
as the plans are framed, executed and followed by another plan.

Intellectual Process: It is a mental exercise at it involves the application of mind, to think, forecast, imagine intelligently and
innovate etc.

Futuristic: In the process of planning we take a sneak peek of the future. It encompasses looking into the future, to analyse and
predict it so that the organization can face future challenges effectively.

Decision making: Decisions are made regarding the choice of alternative courses of action that can be undertaken to reach the
goal. The alternative chosen should be best among all, with the least number of the negative and highest number of positive
outcomes.

Planning is concerned with setting objectives, targets, and formulating plan to accomplish them. The activity helps
managers analyse the present condition to identify the ways of attaining the desired position in future. It is both, the need of the
organization and the responsibility of managers.
Importance of Planning
It helps managers to improve future performance, by establishing objectives and selecting a course of action, for the benefit
of the organization.
It minimizes risk and uncertainty, by looking ahead into the future.
It facilitates the coordination of activities. Thus, reduces overlapping among activities and eliminates unproductive work.
It states in advance, what should be done in future, so it provides direction for action.
It uncovers and identifies future opportunities and threats.
It sets out standards for controlling. It compares actual performance with the standard performance and efforts are made to
correct the same.
Planning is present in all types of organization, households, sectors, economies, etc. We need to plan because the future is
highly uncertain and no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy, as the conditions can change anytime. Hence, planning is
the basic requirement of any organization for the survival, growth and success.

Steps involved in Planning

1. Analyzing Opportunities. Know the possible opportunities in the community or target clientele helps you to
think of a possible program or project that will provide the needs of the beneficiaries of the program to be
implemented. In solving a problem, you need first to analyze the situation and explore possible solutions before
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prioritizing them.
For an instance, that the community has now suffering from COVID-19 Pandemic. There are families who lost their
sources of income and now struggling because of the pandemic. This could be an opportunity to make a program for
them as beneficiaries.
2. Setting Objectives. After knowing the opportunities, it is now time to decide on what would be the focus of the
program to be implemented. Assessing the needs of the community is essential to establish your goals or objectives.
Then write down your goal. And before you move on to the next step, run your goal through the SMART criteria.

1. Specific
The first stage of “SMART” goal planning is to focus your attention on what exactly you want to accomplish. Set goals that
are specific and will elaborate on a general idea. If you say you want to “increase sales revenue,” rephrase your thought
process to include how you will make it happen.
Using who, what, when, where and why questions will make your mission more specific to share with other employees. The
following specific goal serves as an official game plan for a manufacturing business:
 I want to increase sales revenue by 30% this year by using the sales team to reach more clients.

2. Measurable
A goal that is measurable uses metrics to record progress. Never just assume that your efforts are working when you can
provide tangible evidence of success. Decide what data you can track to better decide if your efforts are on schedule.
Manufacturing businesses can determine success by measuring data points, such as:

 Accuracy rates
 Revenue or income
 Customer satisfaction reports
 Feedback
 Turnaround times

3. Achievable
Goals must be achievable based on current skills, resources and knowledge. Achievable goals can still challenge your team,
but it is important to set goals that are not destined for failure.
If you set a goal and it is hard to see how you will accomplish it, you probably need to re-evaluate this stage of the goal-
setting process.
4. Relevant
SMART goal planning will consider the importance of the results you are after. Are your goals going to benefit the entire
organization and align with its morals? Relevant objectives are worthwhile, beneficial and applicable.
5. Time-Bound
Choose an end-date for your business efforts. This portion of the SMART planning process should factor into each part of
the “SMART” acronym. Timelines for completion enable you to create positive motivation for keeping improvements on
schedule.
Deadlines might be different for each part of your manufacturing team

Going back with the mentioned opportunity on the families who have been affected of COVID-19 Pandemic,
establishing the objective using the smart approach will be an effective way for you.

3. Developing Scope or Premises of the Plan. After determining the objectives, to strengthen the implementation
of the program, the scope of the pro- gram must also be established. Answering the 5Ws and 1H of the program.
Questions:
1. What is the program all about?
2. Who is the target beneficiaries?
3. When is the target date of implementation of the program?
4. Where is the target location of the program?
5. Why does the program need to be implemented?
6. How to implement the program?
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4. Developing the Steps of the Program Implementation. Developing the steps will lead for the realization of the
planned program. Create a rough template to list down all the tasks to be performed, due dates and people
responsible. It’s important that you make sure that the entire team is involved in this process and has access to the
document. This way everyone will be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the project.
Make sure that each task is clearly defined and is attainable. If you come across larger and more complex tasks, break
them down to smaller ones that are easier to execute and manage.
The program has three phases, pre-implementation, during implementation and post implementation.
A. Pre-implementation includes the preparation of the procedures, materials and orientation of the persons
involved in the program.
B. Implementation includes the steps to be followed in the implementation of the program. It also includes the
monitoring and evaluation ways of the program.
C. Post-Implementation includes the assessment of the program and checking the attainment of the set objectives
of the program.
5. Setting the Resources Needed. Before you start your project, it’s crucial to en- sure that you have all the
necessary resources at hand to complete the tasks. And if they are not currently available, you need to first make a
plan to acquire them.
This should also include your budget. You can assign a column of your action plan to mark the cost of each task if
there are any.
6. Visualize your action plan. The point of this step is to create something that everyone can understand at a
glance and that can be shared with everyone.
Whether your action plan comes in the shape of a flowchart, Gantt chart, or table, make sure that it clearly communicates
the elements we have identified so far – tasks, task owners, deadlines, resources, etc.
This document should be easily accessible to everyone and should be editable.
7. Monitor, evaluate and update. Allocate some time to evaluate the progress
you’ve made with your team.
You can mark tasks that are completed as done on this final action plan,
bringing attention to how you’ve progressed toward the goal.
This will also bring out the tasks that are pending or delayed, in which case you need to figure out why and find
suitable solutions. And then update the action plan accordingly.

Action Plans are simple lists of all of the tasks that you need to finish to meet an objective. They differ from To-Do Lists  in
that they focus on the achievement of a single goal.
Action Plans are useful, because they give you a framework for thinking about how you'll complete a project efficiently.
They help you finish activities in a sensible order, and they help you ensure that you don't miss any key steps. Also, because you
can see each task laid out, you can quickly decide which tasks you'll delegate or outsource, and which tasks you may be able to
ignore.

Using Action Plans

Use an Action Plan whenever you need to plan a small project.
To draw one up, simply list the tasks that you need to carry out to achieve your objective, in the order that you need to complete
them. (This is very simple, but it is still very useful!)

Use the three-step process below to help you:

 Step 1: Identify Tasks

Start by brainstorming  all of the tasks that you need to complete to accomplish your objective.
It's helpful to start this process at the very beginning. What's the very first action you'll need to take? Once that task is complete,
what comes next? Are there any steps that should be prioritized  to meet specific deadlines, or because of limits on other people's
availability?

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  Step 2: Analyze and Delegate Tasks
Now that you can see the entire project from beginning to end, look at each task in greater detail.
Are there any steps that you could drop, but still meet your objective? Which tasks could you delegate  to someone else on your
team, or could be dealt with by a freelancer? Are there any deadlines for specific steps? Do you need to arrange additional
resources?

 Step 3: Double-Check With SCHEMES

Use the SCHEMES* mnemonic to check that your plan is comprehensive.

SCHEMES stands for:

 Space.
 Cash.
 Helpers/People.
 Equipment.
 Materials.
 Expertise.
 Systems.
You may not need to think about all of these to complete your project. For instance, for a small internal project to streamline the
format of your team's reports, you might only need to think about "Helpers/People," "Expertise," and "Systems."

Note:
Once you've completed your plan, keep it by you as you carry out the work, and update it with additional activities if required.

Learning From Your Action Plan

If you think you'll be trying to achieve a similar goal again, revise your plan after the work is complete, by making a note of
anything that you could have done better.
For instance, perhaps you could have avoided a last-minute panic if you'd alerted a supplier in advance about the size of order
you'd be placing. Or maybe you didn't allow enough time to do certain tasks.

Managing Bigger Projects

Action Plans are useful for small projects, where deadlines are not particularly important or strenuous, and where you don't need
to co-ordinate other people.
As your projects grow, however, you'll need to develop more formal project management skills, particularly if you're responsible
for scheduling other people's time, or need to complete projects to tight deadlines.

Key Points
An Action Plan is a list of tasks that you need to do to complete a simple project or objective.
To draw one up, simply list the tasks that you need to complete to deliver your project or objective, in the order that you need to
complete them.
To do this, first brainstorm every step you'll need to take to follow your task to completion. Then, analyze tasks to see if there are
any that can be pruned, or delegated. Lastly, use the SCHEMES mnemonic to double check that you've considered all critical
areas.
If you need to schedule people's time, or meet tight deadlines as part of your project, consider using the other project management
techniques mentioned.

Sample Action Plan

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Post-Lesson
Activity 3: Assess the status of your community. Identify three areas or aspects which need to be
assisted. Indicate your observation about the needs of the community regarding the identified
areas/aspects. Write your answers on your answer sheet using the table below.

Areas/Aspects Observations

Activity 4: With the identified areas/aspects which need to focus with, choose one aspect and
formulate objectives that will address the identified area/ aspect with challenges. Use SMART
approach in formulating your objectives. Write your objectives on your answer sheet.
Activity 5: Using the created objectives, formulate the premises/scope and time frame of the
preferred project by answering the questions on the table. Use the table to write your answers.

Questions Answers
1. What is the program all about?
2. Who is the target beneficiaries?
3. When is the target date of implementation
of the
program?
4. Where is the target location of the
program?
5. Why does the program need to be
implemented?

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 6. How to implement the program?
Assessment
Formulate the plan of the program to be proposed by developing the steps in implementing the program that will
benefit your chosen area. Consider the three implementation phases discussed in this lesson. Do this on your pa-
per.

Resources and Additional Resources

https://businessjargons.com/planning.html
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_04.htm#:~:text=An%20Action%20Plan%20is%20a,you
%20need%20to%20complete%20them.
https://www.coursehero.com/u/file/69915291/ACTIONPLANSdocx/?justUnlocked=1#question
https://mantec.org/strategic-plan-smart/