TYPES OF PLANS
Mangers use many different kind of planning challenges in the process of activities in organizations. Variety of plans are available to meet these different needs.
Short-Range and Long-Range Plans
Short-range plans cover one year or less as for long-range plans look three or more years into the future. A top management is more likely to be using long-range plans and directions for the organization as a whole. Lower management levels focus more on short-range plans that help accomplish long-term objectives.
For example, EllisDon Corp. is a company that looks to the future. The Ontario construction company decided to change their business model and become a client focused company five years ago. They are now benefiting from increased profits and new markets which includes setting up a permanent office in Dubai.
Elliott Jaques whom is a management researcher suggests that people vary in their capability to think out, organize, and work through events of different time horizons. It is part of his belief that most people work comfortably with only three month time spans. A smaller group works well with a one-year span.
Strategic and Operational Plans
Strategic plans set broad, comprehensive and longer-term action directions. By top management involves determining objectives for the entire organization and describing what and where the organization wants to be in the future.
For example, A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. which wants to be the number-one burger choice of the baby boom generations and is doing so by creating a new/old relationship with the drive-in generation. In the past 15 years, its strategic plan for attracting baby boomers has included expanding its free-standing street presence with retro designs and "cruising events".
Operational Plans identifies activities to implement strategic plans. Operational plans in a business firm include:
Production plans- dealing with the models and technology required.
Financial plans- dealing with money required to support various operations.
Facilities plans- dealing with facilities and work layouts.
Marketing plans- dealing with the requirements of selling and distributing goods and services.
Human Resource plans- dealing with the recruitment, selection and placement of people into a range of jobs.
Policies and Procedures
A policy communicates broad guidelines for making decisions and taking action in specific circumstances.
For example, typical human resource policies address such matters as employee hiring, termination, performance appraisals, pay increases, promotions and discipline.
Procedures describe exactly what actions are to be taken in specific situations. The procedures are often found stated in the employee handbooks or manuals as "SOPs". "SOPs" stands for standard operating procedures. As for a policy, it sets a broad guideline for action, procedures define precise actions to be taken.
Budgets and Projects
Budgets are single-use plans that commit resources to activities, projects, or programs. It is referred to as powerful tools that allocate scarce resources among multiple and often competing uses. A common problem with budgets is that resource allocations get "rolled over" from one budgeting period to the next.
A zero-based budget approaches this problem by approaching each new budget period as if it were brand new. There is no guarantee that any past funding will be renewed. As all proposals compete anew for available funds at the start of each new budget cycle.
For example, Campbell soup managers used zero-based budgeting once they discovered that 10 percent of the marketing budget was going to sales promotions that are no longer relevant to the current product lines.
Many works in organizations takes the form of projects. Examples: completion of a new student activities building on campus, the development of a new computer software program, and the implementation of a new advertising campaign for a sports team.
Project management involves making sure that the activities required to complete a project are completed on time and within the budget. Managers of projects make extensive use of project schedules that define specific task objectives, link activities to be accomplished with due dates, and identify the amounts and time of resource requirements.
Mangers use many different kind of planning challenges in the process of activities in organizations. Variety of plans are available to meet these different needs.
Short-Range and Long-Range Plans
Short-range plans cover one year or less as for long-range plans look three or more years into the future. A top management is more likely to be using long-range plans and directions for the organization as a whole. Lower management levels focus more on short-range plans that help accomplish long-term objectives.
For example, EllisDon Corp. is a company that looks to the future. The Ontario construction company decided to change their business model and become a client focused company five years ago. They are now benefiting from increased profits and new markets which includes setting up a permanent office in Dubai.
Elliott Jaques whom is a management researcher suggests that people vary in their capability to think out, organize, and work through events of different time horizons. It is part of his belief that most people work comfortably with only three month time spans. A smaller group works well with a one-year span.
Strategic and Operational Plans
Strategic plans set broad, comprehensive and longer-term action directions. By top management involves determining objectives for the entire organization and describing what and where the organization wants to be in the future.
For example, A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. which wants to be the number-one burger choice of the baby boom generations and is doing so by creating a new/old relationship with the drive-in generation. In the past 15 years, its strategic plan for attracting baby boomers has included expanding its free-standing street presence with retro designs and "cruising events".
Operational Plans identifies activities to implement strategic plans. Operational plans in a business firm include:
Production plans- dealing with the models and technology required.
Financial plans- dealing with money required to support various operations.
Facilities plans- dealing with facilities and work layouts.
Marketing plans- dealing with the requirements of selling and distributing goods and services.
Human Resource plans- dealing with the recruitment, selection and placement of people into a range of jobs.
Policies and Procedures
A policy communicates broad guidelines for making decisions and taking action in specific circumstances.
For example, typical human resource policies address such matters as employee hiring, termination, performance appraisals, pay increases, promotions and discipline.
Procedures describe exactly what actions are to be taken in specific situations. The procedures are often found stated in the employee handbooks or manuals as "SOPs". "SOPs" stands for standard operating procedures. As for a policy, it sets a broad guideline for action, procedures define precise actions to be taken.
Budgets and Projects
Budgets are single-use plans that commit resources to activities, projects, or programs. It is referred to as powerful tools that allocate scarce resources among multiple and often competing uses. A common problem with budgets is that resource allocations get "rolled over" from one budgeting period to the next.
A zero-based budget approaches this problem by approaching each new budget period as if it were brand new. There is no guarantee that any past funding will be renewed. As all proposals compete anew for available funds at the start of each new budget cycle.
For example, Campbell soup managers used zero-based budgeting once they discovered that 10 percent of the marketing budget was going to sales promotions that are no longer relevant to the current product lines.
Many works in organizations takes the form of projects. Examples: completion of a new student activities building on campus, the development of a new computer software program, and the implementation of a new advertising campaign for a sports team.
Project management involves making sure that the activities required to complete a project are completed on time and within the budget. Managers of projects make extensive use of project schedules that define specific task objectives, link activities to be accomplished with due dates, and identify the amounts and time of resource requirements.