How to plan
PLANNING
Planning is the process of deciding on a course of action,
ensuring that the resources required to implement the action will
be available and scheduling the programme of work required to
achieve a defined end result. It also involves prioritizing work –
deciding the order in which to do things.
As a manager you will normally plan ahead over a relatively
short period of time – up to one or, at most, two years. And your
objectives, targets and budgets will probably have been fixed by
the corporate plan or company budget.
You plan to complete tasks on time without using more
resources than you were allowed. Your aim should be to avoid
crises and the high costs that they cause; to have fewer ‘drop
everything and rush this’ problems. Planning warns you about
possible crises and gives you a chance to avoid them.
Contingency or fall-back plans should be prepared if you have
any reason to believe that your initial plan may fail for reasons
beyond your control.
When you plan, you choose certain courses of action and
rule out others; that is to say, you lose flexibility. This will be a
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