Three types of management planning: making organizations work.

• Author: Carroll, Archie B.

There is abundant evidence that planning is the most prominent and pervasive of the management functions or processes. Planning is prominent because of the evidence of failure in organizations traceable to poor planning or preparation for the future on management's part. Planning is pervasive in that it cuts through all management functions and is a function that is applicable to all managerial levels. It cuts through the other management functions of organizing, controlling, staffing, directing, and decision making in the sense that it is a vital and necessary component of each of these processes. That is, managers must plan for each of the other functions. Planning is applicable to every managerial level because managerial action and decision making, whether at the chief executive's level or at the first-line supervisor's level, should ideally be predicated upon preliminary thought and anticipation of future issues, problems, or details that invariably come into play in the process of making organizations work.

Before planning is anything else, it is a mental process. It is a process of thinking through all facets of an issue or a problem before taking action. At the same time, it provides the ingredients for action.

Planning is a process that entails an assessment of the organization, its resources, and its environment, and encompasses the setting of objectives. Using that assessment as a backdrop, planning entails looking at the past, the present, and the future. So often we stress the futurity of planning to such an extent that we fail to make it clear that the past and the present are our points of departure. Using the past and the present as points of reference, in planning we consider both what we anticipate the future will be like, and what we desire it to be like.

Though we typically associate certain types of planning with specific management levels of the organization, it is contended here that each of the three types of planning presented should be done by all managers at each level. First, we will describe the three types of planning. Second, we will discuss how each of these is appropriate at any organizational level. The three types of planning we will discuss include:

* "To-Do-List" Planning

* Operational Planning

* Strategic Planning

"To-Do-List" Planning

Very few managers can function without a "to-do-list." Since managers are so busy, it is essential that they be able to list the projects, reports, meetings, or goals...