Week3AssignmentinStrategicPlanningforOrganization.docx

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL PLANNING 1
ORGANIZATIONAL PLANNING 3

Organizational Planning
Joyce Crow
Strategic Planning for Organization
Keith Wade
May 17, 2021

Introduction

Planning is a core management role in organizations. It is a prerequisite in the entire process of establishing a company to becoming the most competitive or increasing revenues (Abraham, 2012). Planning, apart from forming part of the management tool, is a strategic process. Through planning, the organization identifies its reason for existence, it’s present and future goals, and the roadmap to maintain the present status if desirable or to improve on the current positioning if not satisfactory (Nouri, 2020). Further, planning helps organizations design mechanisms required to accomplish specific tasks. For instance, while a discussion of strategy such as competition has been done in the previous work, to develop effective competition, planning is inevitable. A company like Lenovo has developed a precise and deliverable plan that has driven its success in the last two decades. At present, the company has a place among the global Fortune Companies and continues to dominate the smartphone industry. Organizational planning is robust.

Types of Organizational Plans

Planning as a strategic and management tool is divided into four types. The classification is based on the plan’s objective or the reason that prompts the need for planning. The four categories of planning include strategic planning, tactical planning, contingent, and operational planning. Strategic planning involves the top hierarchy in management (Nouri, 2020). Top managers and board of directors are involved in the process leading to strategic planning. This type of planning involves creating long-term organizational goals (Nouri, 2020). The plans can cover myriad aspects that include introducing new items, expansion to global markets, increasing market shares, or the profits obtained from marketing.
Tactical planning involves managers in the lower ranks; they could be departmental managers or leaders within a team. Tactical planning involves developing short-term objectives (Nouri, 2020). These objectives are designed to enhance the operation of activities at the lower levels. On the other hand, contingent planning involves conceptualizing secondary plans to mitigate the situation if the preliminary plans fail. It can be developed by the top management or the lower management (Nouri, 2020). Some of the contemporary factors that prompt the need for contingency plans are natural disasters such as earthquakes and disease outbreaks, malfunctioning or cyber threats, especially in the technology industry. Last, operational planning involves the organization’s daily activities that ultimately lead to achieving the strategic planning goals. Companies have set operational plans that direct functions within the organizations.

Is Organizational Planning Procedural or Random?

Planning is a procedural process. Many organizations fail to achieve the objectives of planning because they fail to undertake the process accordingly. The first step in organizational planning is to identify the organization’s vision, mission, and future goals (Nouri, 2020). A plan is a prototype of the company goals, or rather, is a compass direction that leads to achieving the stated purposes. It is hard to have a plan without goals. Therefore, the first step in planning is to set short and long-term goals to be achieved.
After identifying the organizational goals, the next step involves setting a clear time frame. Plans are accomplished with a definite time, and after completion, new strategies are put in place (Nouri, 2020). Using the example of Lenovo, after introducing smartphones in 2010, the company has focused on other plans like enhancing its presence in different markets globally. Therefore, goals should be achieved within a given time, often determined by the number of tasks involved in the plan. To illustrate the process, if an organization plan to increase the market share in the local market, it could set two years as the time required. After the end of the two years, the company further plans to increase market share global
ly.
The following procedure in organizational planning is to establish supporting operations that will lead to realizing the primary plan (Nouri, 2020). For example, an organization that wants to raise its market share within local markets will undertake daily activities, including marketing, advertisement, and recruiting marketing personnel to help in delivering the objective. The management will organize meetings with the employees to evaluate the overall progress of the plans. After creating the daily activities required to achieve the project and executing them, the next step is monitoring. Monitoring involves the evaluation of the day-to-day activities of the primary plan. As days go by, the daily activities should drive the organization towards meeting the schedule. In assessment and monitoring, the organization can identify the gaps and address them to ensure the overall goal is met. During the monitoring process, the management can develop contingency plans to cover all the risks identified in the planning process.

Why Organizational Planning?

Many employees may ponder why organizations strain them with plans in the process of planning in management. However, while it may sometimes appear like a burden, a project contributes to a healthy workplace environment. One of the merits of organizational planning is that it helps organizations be proactive (Nouri, 2020, Abraham, 2012). Through the implementation of different plans, organizations can solve challenges before they happen. An organizational strategy is paramount in creating direction and corporate cultures. From planning, managers and employees identify the particular areas where they should concentrate their efforts. These areas could include increasing the market dominance of a product or providing quality services to consumers. Without plans, a company may lack a concise direction and, consequently, focus.
Another merit of organizational planning is that it makes the respective organizations sustainable. Organizations identify all the risks that could threaten their existence and develop mechanisms to address the risks (Abraham, 2012). Also, through planning, the organization identifies long-term goals that in turn make the organization durable. Lastly, organizational management is a prerequisite for increased profitability and revenues. Organizations with clear plans have defined goals that help them achieve different business objectives leading to increased profitability. Also, through suitable methods, organizations increase their profits.

Moving into the Future

As organizational dynamics keep changing, partly due to globalization and technology, organizations need to develop a culture of management planning within their settings. These plans should be in line with the long-term business objectives of the organization. Planning has numerous merits as aforementioned. It is one of the means through which organizations could use to achieve increased profitability in organizations. Planning also ensures that organizations do not struggle with problems by ensuring that they are dealt with before they emerge. To that end, the employees and the top organizational management should always cooperate in putting up plans to propel companies to the next level.

References
Abraham, S. C. (2012). Strategic Management for Organizations. San Diego, CA; Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.
Nouri, C. (2020, April 27). Organizational planning guide: Plan types, steps & examples. Retrieved May 16, 2021, from https://pingboard.com/blog/organizational-planning-guide-types-of-plans-steps-and-examples/