Importance Of Planning | Purposes Of Planning

What is Planning :

Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and deciding on the actions to achieve them; it requires decision-making, i.e., choosing a course of action from among alternatives.
Plans thus provide a rational approach to achieving preselected objectives.

Planning bridges the gap from where we are to where we want to go. It is also important to point out that planning and controlling are inseparable-the Siamese twins of management (See figure below). Any attempt to control without plans is meaningless, since there is no way for people to tell whether they are going where they want to go (the result of the task of control) unless they first know where they want to go (part of the task of planning). Plans thus furnish the standards of control.

Definition Of Planning :

DEFINITIONS
“Planning is the selecting and relating of facts and the making and using of assumptions regarding the future in the visualization to achieve desire results.” – George Terry

“Planning is deciding advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, who is to do it. It bridges the gap between where we are, where we want to go. It makes it possible for things to occur which would not otherwise happen.” – Koontz and O’Donnel

PURPOSES / IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING

Planning seems to take a lot of effort. As a managerial function planning is important due to the following reasons:-
i. To provide direction
ii. To reduce / offset uncertainty and change
iii. To minimize waste and redundancy
iv. To set the standards to make control effective
v. To manage by objectives
vi. To help in co-ordination
vii. To secure economy in operation
viii. To increase organizational effectiveness

i. Planning provides direction:

Planning provides direction to managers and non- managers alike. When employees know what their organization or work unit is trying to accomplish and what they must contribute in order to reach goals, they can coordinate their activities, cooperate with each other and do what it takes to accomplish those goals. Without planning, department and individuals might work at cross-purpose and prevent the organization from efficiently achieving goals.

ii. Planning reduces / Offset uncertainty and change:

Planning reduces uncertainty by forcing managers to look ahead, anticipate change, consider the impact of change, and develop appropriate response. Although planning won’t eliminate uncertainty, managers plan so they can respond efficiently. Future is always full of uncertainties and changes. Planning foresees the future and makes the necessary provisions for it.

iii. Planning Minimizes waste and redundancy:

Planning Minimizes waste and redundancy. When work activity is coordinated around plans, inefficiency becomes obvious and can be
corrected and eliminated.

iv. Planning establishes the goals or standard to make control effective:

When managers plan, they develop goals and plan. When they control they see whether the plans have been carried out and the goals met. Without planning there would be no goals against which to measure or evaluate work effort. The controlling function of management relates to the comparison of the planned performance with the actual performance. In the absence of plans, a management will have no standards for controlling other’s performance.

v. To manage by objectives:

All the activities of an organization are designed to achieve certain specified objectives. However, planning makes the objectives more concrete by focusing attention on them.

vi. To help in co-ordination:

Co-ordination is, indeed, the essence of management, the planning is the base of it. Without planning it is not possible to co-ordinate the different activities of an organization.

vii. To secure economy in operation:

Planning involves, the selection of most profitable course of action that would lead to the best result at the minimum costs.

viii. To increase organizational effectiveness:

Mere efficiency in the organization is not important; it should also lead to productivity and effectiveness. Planning enables the manager to measure the organizational effectiveness in the context of the stated objectives and take further actions in this direction.