Planning Concept
Planning consists on the choice of goals on a medium and long term and on the forethought of the means and ways in order that hose goals obtain higher odds of being achieved. Planning allows an existence of a guide line, the introduction of futures goals in all of the present decisions and, simultaneously the elimination of weak points and anticipation of external threats, enabling the organizations’ development through the definition of strategies for the better use of opportunities.
Steps needed for Planning:
As to the method and steps to make for the performance of planning, it doesn’t exist unanimity among the several authors. It’s possible, however, to find a common point among all of them and it concerns the duties or answers that should give: any Planning should answer in a clear and precise way to questions “Where are we?”, “Where do we want to go?” and “How to get there?”.
To answer the question “Where are we?” it’s necessary to analyze the actual situation of the elements of the external surroundings and imply on the future evolution in order to determine the threats and opportunities that the organization can be confronted. Should also be made an analysis of the own organization evaluating its strong and weak points and its competitive position in the market. The answer will serve as base for the organizational goals’ definition and will supply fundamental information for the development of performance strategies.
As to the question “Where do we want to go?”, means to define goals that the organizations wants to achieve, whose should be in agreement with the organizational mission and values and framed with the obtained conclusions in the analysis of threats and opportunities and the organizations’ strong and weak points.
Finally the question “How to get there?” corresponds to the performance strategy choices that allowed achieving the goals, the determination of the needed resources and the description of the actions to develop and the measures to take that allow the results’ control. In this stage it’s appropriate to distinguish between the formulation of a strategic plan, where are defined the general guides of the medium and long term, and the formulation of the operational plan, where are specified the procedures, rules and politics to adopt.
After the Planning stage follows the deployment or performance, which consists on the deployment, coordination and monitoring of the action programs defined and the analyses of the results in order to take corrective actions in case the diversions in relation to the planned oblige to such.
