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CHAPTER 4

How is planning accomplished? Set goals, develop commitment, develop effective action plans, track progress toward goal achievement, maintain flexibility

How is planning flexibility maintained? Options-based planning: maintaining planning flexibility by making small, simultaneous investments in many alternative plans (leave commitments open by maintaining slack resources: a cushion of extra resources that can be used with options-based planning to adapt to unanticipated changes, problems, or opportunities.) Learning-based planning: learning better ways of achieving goals by continually testing, changing, and improving plans and strategies.

A vision is a statement of a company’s purpose of reason for existing.

Management by Objectives is a 4 step process in which managers and employees discuss and select goals, develop and carry out tactical plans, and meet regularly to review progress toward goal accomplishment.

Discuss possible goals, Participatively select goals consistent with overall goals, Jointly develop tactical plans, Meet to review progress

3 types of operational plans (day-to-day plans that are developed and implemented by lower level managers): Single-use plans: plans that cover unique one-time only events, standing plans: plans used repeatedly to handle frequently recurring events(policies and procedures), and budgeting: quantitative planning through which managers decide how to allocate available money to best accomplish company goals.

Optimal solutions are the goal of the decision making process but cannot be obtained due to limited resources, incomplete or imperfect information, managers’ limited decision-making capabilities.

Planning is choosing a goal and developing a strategy to achieve that goal.

Benefits of planning: Intensifies effort, persistence, direction, creation of task strategies.

Downfalls of planning: Impedes change and adaptation, false sense of security, detachment of planners

The mission flows from the vision...