Planning is as old as creation itself. Even planning exist before the creation of man according to the bible because God made everything in a certain pattern in order to make sure Man gets comfort which was his primary aim.
Fast forward to our present day living, planning is a very important tool for survival. Even the government make their plan on form of budget.
Every organization wether economic, religious, non-profit and any other organization is saddled with this issue called planning because it will determine the success or failure of such company.
Planning has become the key duty of a manager or any personnel holding a managerial role.
There are many definition of Planning by different scholars around the globe.
According to wikipedia
Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It is the first and foremost activity to achieve desired results.
Koontz and O'Donnell
Planning is deciding in advance what is to be done. When a manager plans, he projects a course of action and basing of decisions on purpose, knowledge and considered estimates”.
Taylor and Sparks 1970
planning is the systematic exercise in determining the total resources of the organization for the achievement of its quantified objective within a specified time frame.
Planning is the link between the present stage to the final stage as well as mechanism to get there.
Without planning, occurrence, outcomes and events are left to luck and chances.
Planning is a very tasking job as it is the genesis of achievement because it require adequate study of the present situation, resource, time space and ways to combine them to acheive the set objective.
BASIC FACTORS OF PLANNING:
SETTING GOALS: The first thing to do in planning is to set goals because this is what plans are targeted at. Without an objective, goal or mission, Planning is of no use. So the first thing to do is to understand and set the goal to be acheived.
EVALUATE PRESENT CONDITION AND RESOURCES: The next step is to look at the available resources as well as the present condition as regards achieving the goals. This will help detect any kind of inadequacies or problems embedded in the present state and if the resources are not enough.
SET A TIME FRAME: Planning may be successful or not depending on the time frame set. There should be an anticipation as this is a moving or driving force in achieving goals. Also this will help in distributing resources to various channel as the time frame would decide the the manager will know what is needed now and later.
FORECASTING: Forecasting means using statistics of present situation to determine the outcome of future occurrence. The future is never certain as in the case of COVID 19. But with the situation at hand and all things be equal, a manager can easily predict future events.
COLLATING OF DATA AND INFORMATION: To get a plan working, the manager must seek and get information as regards the plan from different sources like the mass media, records from the organisation and similar organizations. This will help the manager to get the necessary information needed as well as plan adequately, know the lapses that may surface and prepare for any possible way out ahead.
COORDINATION: After the aforementioned steps. The manager will have to decide the pattern in which the plans will be achieved like which department need to be added or removed, which personnel is needed or which is surplus, the best cost effective measures and well as determine the roles of the different levels of Management.
Planning is very vital to any organization who wants to stay at the top for a unforseen number of years and also be the best in that field.
Planning may change according to changes in the economic, political, social condition.
Thanks for reading.
