PLANNING TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES strategies for obtaining and using resources to achieve

those goals.
THE NATURE OF PLANNING
There are many instances when the managers
are overwhelmed by various activities which at times
becloud his judgment. This must be expected since
anybody who is confronted by several situations
happening simultaneously will loose sight of the more
important concerns. To minimize mistakes in decision
making, planning is undertaken.
In strategic planning, the whole company is
considered, specifically its objectives and current
resources. The output of strategic planning is the
strategic plan which spells out “the decision about long
range goals and the course of action to achieve these
goals.”
INTERMEDIATE PLANNING

A plan which is the output of planning,
provides a methodical way of achieving desired
results. In the implementation of activities, the plan
serves as a useful guide. Without the plan some minor
tasks may be afforded major attention which may, later
on, hinder the accomplishment of activities.
PLANNING DEFINED
NICKELS AND OTHERS
• refers to the management function
that involves anticipating future trends and
determining the best strategies and tactics to achieve
organizational activities.
ALDAG AND STEARNS
• “the selection and sequential
ordering of tasks required to achieve an organizational
goal.”
-refers to the process of determining the
contributions that subunits can make with allocated
resources.
Under intermediate planning, the goals of a
subunit are determined and a plan is prepared to
provide a guide to the realization of the goals. The
intermediate plan is designed to support the strategic
plan.
OPERATIONAL PLANNING
-refers to the process of determining how
specific tasks can best be accomplished on time with
available resources. This type of planning is a
responsibility of lower management. It must be
performed in support of the strategic plan and
intermediate plan.

COLE AND HAMILTON

• “deciding what will be done, who will

do it, where, when and how it will be done, and the
standards to which it will be done.”

PLANNING AT VARIOUS MANAGEMENT LEVELS

• Top management level – strategic planning

• Middle management level – intermediate planning

• Lower management level – operational planning

STRATEGIC PLANNING

-refers to the process of determining the major

goals of the organization and the policies and
THE PLANNING PROCESS
The Planning Process
The process of planning consists of various
steps depending on the management level that
performs the planning task. Generally, however,
planning involves the following:
1. setting organizational, divisional, or unit goals
2. developing strategies or tactics to reach those goals
3. determining resource needed and
4. setting standards.
Setting Organizational, Divisional, or Unit Goals
• Goals may be defined as the precise
statement of results sought, quantified in time and
magnitude, where possible.
Developing Strategies or Tactics to Reach Goals
After determining the goals, the next task is to
devise some means to realize them. The ways to realize
the goals are called strategies and these will be the
concern of top management. The middle and lower
management will adapt their own tactics to implement
their plans.
A strategy may be defined as “a course of
action aimed at ensuring that the organization will
achieve its objectives”.
Determining Resources Needed
When particular sets of strategies or tactics
have been devised, the engineer management will,
then, determine the human and nonhuman resources
required by such strategies and tactics. Even if the
resource requirements are currently available, they
must be specified.
The quality and quantity of resources needed
must be correctly determined. Too much resources in
terms of either quality and quantity will be wasteful.
Too little will mean loss of opportunities for maximizing
income.
To satisfy strategic requirements, a general
statement of needed resources will suffice. The specific
requirements will be determined by the different units
of the company
Setting Standards
The standards for measuring performance may
be set at the planning stage. When actual performance
does not match with the planned performance,
corrections may be made or reinforcements for the
purpose.
A standard may be defined as “a quantitative
or qualitative measuring device designed to help
monitor the performance of people, capital goods, or
processes.
TYPES OF PLANS
Plans are of different types. They may be
classified in terms of functional areas, time horizon,
and frequency of use.
Functional Area Plans
1. Marketing Plan – this is the written document or
blueprint for implementing and controlling an organization’s
marketing activities related to a particular marketing
strategy.
2. Production Plan - this is the written document
that states the quantity of output a company must produce
in broad terms and by product family.
3. Financial Plan – it is a document that summarizes
the current financial situation of the firm, analyzes financial
needs, and recommends a direction for financial activities.
4. Human Resource Management Plan – it is a
document that indicates the human resource needs of a
company detailed in terms of quantity and quality and based
on the requirements of the company’s strategic plan
PLANS WITH TIME HORIZON

Plans with time horizon consist of the following:

1. Short Range Plans – these are plans intended to

cover a period of less than one year. First-line
supervisors are mostly concerned with these plans.

2. Long Range Plans – these are plans covering a time

span of more than one year. These are mostly
undertaken by middle and top management.

PLANS ACCORDING TO FREQUENCY OF USE

According to frequency of use, plans may be classified

as:

1. Standing plans – these are plans that are use again

and again, and they focus on managerial situations that
recur repeatedly.

2. Single-use plans – these plans are specifically

developed to implement courses of action that are
relatively unique and are unlikely to be repeated.

STANDING PLANS

Standing plans may be further classified as follows:

1. Policies – they are broad guidelines to aid managers at

every level in making decisions about recurring situation or
function.

2. Procedures – they are plans that describe the exact series

of action to be taken in a given situation.

3. Rules – they are statements that either require or forbid a

certain action.

SINGLE-USE PLANS

Single-use plans may be further classified as follows:

1. Budget – is a plan which sets forth the projected

expenditure for a certain activity and explains where the
required funds will come from.

2. Programs – is a single use of plan designated to

coordinate a large set of activities.

3. Project – is a single use plan that is usually more limited in

scope than a program and is sometimes prepared to support
a program.
ORGANIZING TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
• The engineer manager needs to acquire
various skills in management, including those for
organizing technical activities. In this highly competitive
environment, the unskilled manager will not be able to
bring his unit, or his company, as the case may be, to
success.
• Even today, skills in organizing contribute
largely to the accomplishment of the objectives of many
organization, whether they are private business or
otherwise.
REASONS FOR ORGANIZING
Organizing is undertaken to facilitate the
implementation of plans. In effective organizing, steps
are undertaken to breakdown the total job into more
manageable man-size jobs.
STRUCTURES
-The arrangement or relationship of positions
within an organization.
PURPOSE OF THE STRUCTURES
• It defines the relationships between tasks
and authority for individuals and departments.
• It defines formal reporting relationships, the
number of levels in the hierarchy of the organization,
and the span of control.
• It defines the groupings of individuals into
departments and departments into organization.
• It defines the system to effect coordination
of effort in both vertical (authority) and horizontal
(task) directions.
WHEN STRUCTURING AN ORGANIZATION, THE
ENGINEER MANAGER MUST BE CONCERNED WITH THE
FOLLOWING:
• Division of Labor – determining the scope of
work and how it is combined in a job.
• Delegation of authority – the process of
assigning various degrees of decision making authority
to subordinates.
• Departmentation – the grouping of related
jobs, activities, or processes into major organizational
subunits.
• Span of control – the number of people who
report directly to a given manager.
• Coordination – the linking of activities in the
organization that serves to achieve a common goal or
objective.
THE FORMAL ORGANIZATION
After a plan is adapted, management will
proceed to form an organization to carry out the
activities indicated in the plan. The formal organization
is “the structure that details lines of responsibilities,
authority, and position.”
THE FORMAL STRUCTURE IS DESCRIBED BY MANAGEMENT
THROUGH:
• Organization chart – diagram of the organization’s
official positions and formal lines of authority.
• Organizational manual – provides written
descriptions of authority relationships, details the functions
of major organizational units, and describes job procedures.
• Policy Manual - describes personnel activities and
company INFORMAL GROUPS
• Formal Organizations require the formation of
formal groups which will be assigned to perform specific
tasks aimed at achieving organizational objectives. The
formal group is a part of the organization structure.
• There are instances when members of an
organization spontaneously form a group with friendship as
a principal reason for belonging. This group is called an
informal group. It is not part of the formal organization and it
does not have a formal performance purpose.
• Informal groups are oftentimes very useful in the
accomplishments of major tasks, especially if these tasks
conform with the expectations of the members of the
informal groups.
TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
1. FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION – Function
organization structures are very effective in smaller
firms, especially “single- business firms where key
activities revolve around well- defined skills and areas
of specialization”
2. PRODUCT or MARKET ORGANIZATION – With its
feature of operating by divisions, is “appropriate for a
large corporation with many product lines in several
related industries”
Advantages:
• The organization is flexible and responsive to change.
• The organization provides a high concern for customer’s
needs.
• The organization provides excellent coordination across
functional departments.
• There is emphasis on overall product and division goals.
• The opportunity for the development of general
management skills is provided.
Disadvantages:
• There is a high possibility of duplication of resources across
division.
• There is less technical depth and specialization in divisions.
• There is poor coordination across division.
• There is less top management control.
• There is competition for corporate resources.
3. MATRIX ORGANIZATION - According to Thompson
Strickland, “is a structure with two (or more) channels
of command, two lines of budget authority, and two
sources of performances and reward” Higgins declared
that the “the matrix structure was designed to keep
employees in a certain pool and to allocate them to
various projects in the firm according to the length of
time they were needed.”
TYPES OF AUTHORITY
• LINE AUTHORITY – a manager’s right to tell
subordinates what to do and then see that they do it.
• STAFF AUTHORITY – a staff specialist’s right to
give advice to a superior.
• FUNCTIONAL AUTHORITY – a specialist’s right to
oversee lower level personnel involved in that specialty,
regardless of where the personnel are in the organization.
• LINE DEPARTMENTS
-perform tasks that reflect the organization’s
primary goal and mission. In a construction firm, the
department that negotiates and secures contracts for the
firm is a line department. The construction division is also a
line function.
• STAFF DEPARTMENTS
-include all those that provide specialized skills in
support of line departments. Examples of staff departments
include those which perform strategic planning, labor
relations, research, accounting, and personnel. Staff officers
may be classified into the following:
• PERSONAL STAFF
– those individuals assigned to a specific manager
to provide needed staff services.
• SPECIALIZED STAFF

– those individuals providing needed staff services

for the whole organization.

THE PURPOSE OF COMMITTEES

When certain formal groups are deemed

inappropriate to meet expectations, committees are
oftentimes harnessed to achieve organizational goals.
Many organizations, large or small, make use of
committee.

A committee, as described by Millevo, is “often

staffed by top executives from marketing, production,
research, engineering, and finance, who work part –
time to evaluate and approve product ideas.”

COMMITTEES MAY BE CLASSIFIED AS FOLLOWS:

• Ad hoc committee – one created for a short-term

purpose and have a limited life. An example is the
committee created to manage the anniversary
festivities of a certain firm.

• Standing committee – it is relatively permanent

committee that deals with issues on an ongoing basis.
An example is the grievance committee set up to handle
initially complaints from employees of the organization.