I. Why do managers plan?

1. It creates a solid foundation for the other management functions. You know
where to put your staff and how to distribute your resources (organizing), you know what
activities need to be done and how to lead (leading) and you will be able to identify whether
there is a need for corrective actions (controlling)
Planning: The process of setting objectives and determining how to accomplish them
Objectives and goals: Identify the specific results or desired outcomes that one intends
to achieve
Plan: A statement of action steps to be taken in order to accomplish the objectives
2. Steps of planning process:
1. Define your objectives—Identify desired goals or results in very specific ways.
2. Determine where you stand along with objectives—Evaluate your current
accomplishments relation with the desired results.
3. Develop premises regarding future conditions—Forecast future events.
4. Analyze alternatives and make a plan—Then list and evaluate possible activities.
5. Implement the plan and evaluate results—Take the plan into real practice, execute
it and measure your progress toward your goals.
 The main focus in planning phase is objectives and goals.
3. Benefits of Planning
a. Planning Improves Focus and Flexibility
An organization with focus knows what it does best, its strengths and it knows the
needs of customers, and how to serve those needs well. A person with focus knows where he
or she wants to go in life and what his or her competencies are
An organization with flexibility is willing and able to change and adapt to shifting
circumstances without losing focus, and it operates with an orientation toward the future rather
than the past. An individual with flexibility adjusts career plans to fit new competencies,
developing opportunities as well as shifting market demands
b. Planning Improves Action Orientation
During planing phase, you are able to set your objectives and it helps focusing our
attention on priorities and avoiding the complacency trap— being being carried along by the
flow of events and lose track of the actual target
c. Planning Improves Coordination and Control
The individuals, groups, and subsystems’ efforts must be combined into meaningful
contributions to the organization.
Good plans will help coordinate the activities of individuals, groups, and subsystems to
achieve the common goals.
d. Planning and Time Management
Planning helps in terms of time management. Some tips for time management:
 – DO say “no” to requests that distract from what you should be doing
– DO screen telephone calls, emails, and meeting requests
– DO prioritize your important and urgent work
– DO follow priorities; do most important and urgent work first
– DON’T let drop-in visitors instant messaging use up your time
– DON’T get bogged down in details that can be addressed later
– DON’T become calendar bound by letting others control your schedule

II. Types of Plans Used by Managers

By classifying plan in terms of period that plan is applied:
- Long-term plans looked three or more years into the future
- Short-term plans covered one year or less.
 Long-term plan sets the context for staff to work on useful short-term plan
By classifying based on the scope that plan covers:
- Vision is what you want to be in the future, where you wanna to stand.
- Strategic plans focused on the performance of organization as a whole. They set
broad action directions and allocate resources for maximum performance impact.
- Tactical plans are developed and used to implement strategic plans. They specify
how the organization’s resources can be used to put strategies into action.
- Functional plans indicate how different components of the enterprise will
contribute to the overall strategy. It is a kind of tactical plans, but it focuses on each department
or sub-system of an organization.
- Operational plans are plans that identify behavior and describe what needs to be
done in the short term to support strategic and tactical plans. They include both standing plans
like policies and procedures that are used over and over again, and single-use plans like budgets
that apply to one specific task or time period.

III. Planning Tools and Techniques

1. Forecasting
Forecasting is the process of predicting what will happen in the future.
It relies on human judgement; hence, it is not recommended to base all your planning on
forecasting.
2. Contingency Planning
Contingency planning is identifying alternative courses of action that can be
implemented if circumstances change.
3. Scenario Planning
Scenario planning is a long-term version of contingency planning.
 It involves identifying several possible future scenarios and making plans to deal with
each scenario. In this sense, scenario planning forces us to think far ahead and be open to lots of
possibilities that can impact our plans, impact our operation or even the objectives.
4. Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the use of external and internal comparisons to better evaluate current
performance and identify possible ways to improve for the future
The purpose of benchmarking is to find out best practices then plan how to incorporate
these ideas into your own operations.
5. Staff Planning
The use of staff planners to help coordinate and energize all dept and other employees to
participate in planning. They can help to improve focus and expertise to a wide variety of
planning tasks. The risk is communication. People / staff need to work closely in planning and
commit to implementing the plan
IV. Implementing Plans
1. Goal Setting
Specific—clearly targeted key results and outcomes to be accomplished.
Timely—linked to specific timetables and “due dates.”
Measurable—described so results can be measured without ambiguity.
Challenging—include a stretch factor that moves toward real gains.
Attainable—although challenging, realistic and possible to achieve.
2. Goal Alignment
Goal alignment is important, cause what we do within a company should contribute to
each other and to the overall performance. Each sub-system has its own goal to achieve but those
goals have to aligned with each other in contributing to the accomplishment of common goals of
org as a whole.
Within a team, goal alignment is needed so that all team members are aware of what the
purpose of their tasks and how their contributions can help achieving team’s goal:
– Jointly plan: set objectives, set standards, choose actions
– Individually set: perform tasks (member), provide support (leader)
– Jointly control: review results, discuss implications, renew cycle
3. Participation and Involvement
– “Participation” and “Involvement” are two of planning core components.
– Participatory planning includes in all planning steps the people who will be
affected by the plans and asked to help implement them.
– Participation can increase the creativity and information available for planning,
increase the understanding and acceptance of plans, as well as commitment to their success.
– Even though it is time consuming, it improves results by improve plan quality and
effectiveness when implementing.