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Business Jargons

A Business Encyclopedia

Planning

Definition: Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding beforehand, what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down anΒ organisation’s objectives and develops various courses of action, by which the organisation can achieve those objectives. It chalks out exactly, how to attain a specific goal.

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

characteristics of planning

  1. Managerial function: Planning is a first and foremost managerial function provides the base for other functions of the management, i.e. organising, staffing, directing and controlling, as they are performed within the periphery of the plans made.
  2. Goal oriented: It focuses on defining the goals of the organisation, identifying alternative courses of action and deciding the appropriate action plan, which is to be undertaken for reaching the goals.
  3. Pervasive: It is pervasive in the sense that it is present in all the segments and is required at all the levels of the organisation. Although the scope of planning varies at different levels and departments.
  4. 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 organisation’s present and future requirements and conditions. Therefore, it is an ongoing process, as the plans are framed, executed and followed by another plan.
  5. Intellectual Process: It is a mental exercise at it involves the application of mind, to think, forecast, imagine intelligently and innovate etc.
  6. 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 organisation can face future challenges effectively.
  7. 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 theΒ present condition to identify the ways of attaining the desired position in future. It is both, the need of the organisation 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 organisation.
  • It minimises 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 organisations, 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

Steps of Planning

By planning process, an organisation not only gets the insights of the future, but it also helps the organisation to shape its future. Effective planning involves simplicity of the plan, i.e. the plan should be clearly stated and easy to understandΒ because if the plan is too much complicated it will create chaos among the members of the organisation. Further, the plan should fulfil all the requirements of the organisation.

Related terms:

  1. Strategic Planning
  2. Human Resource Planning Process
  3. Controlling
  4. Succession Planning
  5. Gap Analysis

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Samwrl says

    August 17, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    Very informative.

    Reply
    • Triza Naliaka says

      November 8, 2021 at 1:01 pm

      Wow great it helped me in my unit studies

      Reply
  2. Sahil power lifter Sujjon says

    October 24, 2018 at 6:59 am

    Very well

    Reply
    • Talha gondla says

      February 11, 2022 at 12:06 am

      Very informative and simple language for understanding this very easily Good πŸ‘πŸ‘

      Reply
    • Bhuvaneshwari says

      November 28, 2022 at 10:04 pm

      It’s very helpfull for my semester exam

      Reply
  3. FASASI,MUTIU ABIOLA KEHINDE says

    December 5, 2018 at 11:45 am

    This is highly impressive as it gives detailed clues on the subject matter- Planning. Indeed, it is educative and informative

    Reply
  4. ismail bin latif says

    February 6, 2019 at 2:34 pm

    fantastic

    Reply
  5. Tu says

    March 17, 2019 at 6:48 am

    superb

    Reply
    • Lizzy says

      July 17, 2021 at 11:38 am

      Wow, I love this,well detailed

      Reply
  6. R.Venkataramany says

    April 18, 2019 at 12:48 pm

    Really a simple but effective narration on planning which even commom men can follow.

    Reply
    • Riya yadav says

      November 23, 2019 at 1:00 pm

      Can you please add scopes of planning too.

      Reply
  7. Rohit says

    April 21, 2019 at 8:45 am

    Language is simple and clear

    Reply
  8. kanha says

    June 30, 2019 at 9:26 pm

    very clear language all are understandable . Nice post sir it help me for my semester exam .

    Reply
  9. George Emetuche says

    July 4, 2019 at 9:55 pm

    Great job on Planning! It is simple, yet detailed!

    Reply
  10. teyeku says

    August 15, 2019 at 5:40 pm

    It is nice continuous by this ways

    Reply
  11. Tossyn temi says

    October 13, 2019 at 3:12 am

    Really helpful. God bless you Ma’am.

    Reply
    • Surbhi S says

      October 14, 2019 at 9:51 am

      Thank you so much all the readers, for constantly appreciating the article, it means a lot to us, Keep reading. πŸ™‚

      Reply
      • Eric says

        February 4, 2021 at 2:23 pm

        Great piece
        Thank you

        Reply
  12. Rahul Bansal says

    October 19, 2019 at 2:37 pm

    Nice

    Reply
  13. Amatulla says

    November 13, 2019 at 12:10 pm

    very informative, and to the point

    Reply
  14. Maria says

    November 20, 2019 at 11:37 pm

    Nice work Ma’am, very educative and well narrated… It will really help me in my exam tomorrow

    Reply
  15. Abdujebar Mohammed says

    November 25, 2019 at 1:05 am

    Very nice.
    Thank you so much very helpful article

    Reply
  16. Kingsman Acquah Aidoo says

    December 8, 2019 at 3:57 am

    It was great to read

    Reply
  17. realesson says

    December 26, 2019 at 11:15 pm

    Very nicely done. Your show schedule gave me the info on some shows I was wondering about.

    Reply
  18. Otayama says

    January 2, 2020 at 2:05 pm

    Thank you
    Excellent…good

    Reply
  19. Abundant Grace says

    January 21, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    This is insightful. Thank you.

    Reply
  20. Ankit Kumar Singh says

    February 26, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    Very Informative.
    It cleared all my doubts. 😊😊😊😊😊

    Reply
  21. Tangiri says

    February 29, 2020 at 4:07 pm

    wonderful one. Thanks Sir

    Reply
  22. Timi says

    March 2, 2020 at 3:07 pm

    Good job done, very informative.

    Reply
  23. Sneha jaiswal says

    March 4, 2020 at 8:34 am

    Nice

    Reply
  24. SANIA SAEED says

    July 22, 2020 at 8:08 pm

    Nice

    Reply
  25. mansoor wahab says

    August 31, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    very well excellent

    Reply
  26. Akinbi Oluwaseun Esther says

    September 21, 2020 at 9:10 am

    This is very straightforward !
    Thanks you

    Reply
  27. Baxhir omar says

    November 4, 2020 at 4:38 am

    Splendid Great

    Reply
  28. Sammy says

    November 26, 2020 at 9:24 am

    Great Article, how do I cite it, what date was it published and who is the author? Can you please assist me with this information. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Surbhi S says

      November 26, 2020 at 9:41 am

      The article was written by Surbhi S. on December 3, 2016

      Reply
  29. chikiss says

    November 27, 2020 at 11:32 am

    I am very grateful ,thanks

    Reply
  30. Ayo Oladipo says

    December 10, 2020 at 2:12 pm

    Very interesting and educative

    Reply
  31. Sandie says

    December 14, 2020 at 2:46 am

    Helpful

    Reply
  32. Matthew says

    December 20, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    Good points

    Reply
  33. Rahim says

    December 22, 2020 at 8:46 pm

    It is a very important article. But, plz give me the reference for this article.

    Reply
  34. David Onyatta says

    February 27, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    I’m very grateful. Thanks.

    Reply
  35. Abhishek Kumar saxena says

    March 17, 2021 at 7:58 pm

    Nice topic

    Reply
  36. Ortese Msughter says

    March 25, 2021 at 3:11 am

    You have done a wonderful by providing this information.

    Reply
  37. K. S. Afzal Ahmed says

    April 7, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    I found it which I was looking for. Very informative, briefed and illustrative.

    Thanks to the Author. Keep doing also on other projects. Good by.

    Reply
  38. Reridis Paulinus says

    May 3, 2021 at 12:34 pm

    Interesting and informative
    Thank you very much. God bless πŸ‘

    Reply
  39. buba juwara says

    June 1, 2021 at 8:11 am

    very simple to understand keep the good work i am deeply touch

    Reply
  40. Elijah Awune says

    September 9, 2021 at 5:48 pm

    Nice research done

    Very helpful. Thank you

    Reply
  41. chemz says

    September 16, 2021 at 2:31 am

    please advise who wrote the article and when it was published. this may help on my research. hope somebody can help me

    Reply
    • Surbhi S says

      September 17, 2021 at 11:20 am

      It was created on Dec 3, 2016 by Surbhi S.

      Reply
  42. Mary says

    October 20, 2021 at 11:26 pm

    Full of information

    Reply
  43. Hani Ibrahim says

    October 24, 2021 at 12:27 am

    Perfect, it is very useful thanks guys πŸ₯°

    Reply
  44. Comr simon israel says

    November 11, 2021 at 2:25 pm

    So helpful

    Reply
  45. Comr simon israel says

    November 11, 2021 at 2:28 pm

    So perfect on planning

    Reply
  46. Mumaraki Nanyama says

    November 21, 2021 at 10:55 am

    Well researched.

    Reply
  47. Jyoti badiger says

    November 23, 2021 at 2:17 pm

    Super, very helpful thank you so muchπŸ₯°

    Reply
  48. Kajal says

    December 25, 2021 at 12:26 am

    Helpful information

    Reply
  49. Ashik says

    February 3, 2022 at 2:05 pm

    Clear information.

    Reply
  50. Faiz Rahman Ghafari says

    March 1, 2022 at 7:30 pm

    Simple and good explanation. Thank you.

    Reply
  51. Lizzianah says

    March 19, 2022 at 7:36 pm

    Clear and straight to the point…easy to understand
    Thanks a lot, I believe it will be of great help in my exam

    Reply
  52. Lizzianah says

    March 19, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    Simple and clear,easy to understand
    Thanks so much,I believe it’ll be of great help in my end of semester exam
    Be blessed for your help

    Reply
  53. Asaku Emma says

    April 21, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    Thanks so so much for the work

    Reply
  54. Micheal says

    April 25, 2022 at 5:47 pm

    it is very easy to understand…

    Reply
  55. Janaka Fonseka says

    May 29, 2022 at 8:40 pm

    very helpful. thanks for sharing this valued information

    Reply
  56. Daniel happiness says

    June 8, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    Thank you sir is really helpful

    Reply
  57. martha Situmbeko says

    June 10, 2022 at 10:09 pm

    Thank you so much for the information

    Reply
  58. Cecilia says

    August 15, 2022 at 9:11 pm

    Thanks a bunch, easy to understand and very informative.

    Reply
  59. edward says

    September 13, 2022 at 4:01 pm

    Wow! it helped me formulate class materials, good.

    Reply
  60. Carolyn says

    September 24, 2022 at 10:48 pm

    Good information.

    Reply
  61. Rachel Pronsloo says

    January 26, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    Hi

    I would like to use some of the information in this article. Can I get the writer’s name, etc., to include as a reference source?

    Reply
    • Surbhi S says

      February 10, 2023 at 11:00 am

      The author’s name is Surbhi S.

      Reply
  62. Nelas says

    March 11, 2023 at 4:13 pm

    Wow clearly stated and easy to understand. Thank you.

    Reply

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