Importance of Planning
Planning is the key to the success of an organization. In fact, most of the company’s achievements can be attributed to careful planning. Planning is a function of every manager at every level in an enterprise or an organization. Every manager is required to plan first for the systematic and orderly performance of his assigned duties.
It is within the planning function that goals are determined, decision-making takes place, forecasts are made and strategies are initiated. Thus, planning has assumed great importance in all types of organizations—business or non-business, private or public sector, small or large.
As a managerial function, planning is important for the following reasons:
- Providing Basis of Decision:
The first and most important reason for planning lies in the fact that it provides a basis on which decisions are made. It is an immense need for the managers of an enterprise to fix up their minds as to what they want to accomplish and then plan the use of time, resources, and efforts towards the achievement of their objectives.
- Focusing Attention on Objectives:
Planning concentrates attention on the objectives of an organization or enterprise. The first function of planning is to spell out its objectives. The objectives are defined in more concrete, precise, and meaningful terms. As a result of such attention, it becomes possible for the planners to determine the policies, procedures, programs, and rules for an orderly advance towards the ultimate goals desired to be achieved.
- Minimizing Uncertainty and Risk:
The future is uncertain. Planning helps the managers in taking care of future uncertainties and thus minimizes business risk. It anticipates future events and sets the course of action to control these events to one’s advantage. With the help of planning, an enterprise can predict future events and make due provisions for them. This, no doubt, eliminates or reduces the possibility of jumping into uncertainties.
- Adapting with Changes:
Business planning has become imperative due to the fact that an organization operates in a changing and dynamic environment. The aspects of this changing environment include changes in technology, government policies, the nature of competition, social norms and attitudes, etc. As the planning proceeds step by step, it foresees the changes likely to come and accordingly prepares its program by necessary adjustments and adaptation.
- Securing Economy:
Planning focuses on efficiency and economy in operation. A plan is a course of action that can take the organization to its objectives at the minimum cost. Planning prevents wastage of resources by choosing the best course of action from many alternatives. It aims at a smooth flow of work. All these steps in planning lead automatically to economizing.
- Helping in Coordination:
Planning leads to achieving a coordinated structure of operations. It provides a unifying framework. Sound planning inter-relates all the activities and resources of an organization. Well-considered overall plans harmonies inter-departmental activities. Thus, various departments work in accordance with the overall plan, and coordination is achieved.
- Making Control Effective:
The managerial function of controlling is concerned with a comparison between the planned performance and the actual performance of the subordinates and departments of the organization. Thus, control is exercised in the context of planning action as the standards against which actual results are to be compared are set up through planning. So planning provides the basis for control. Thus, planning and control are inseparable.
- Increasing Organisational Effectiveness:
Planning ensures organizational effectiveness in several ways. It states the objectives of the organization in the context of given resources; provides for proper utilization of resources to the best advantage, gives necessary competitive strength for continuous growth and steady progress by foreseeing what the competitors are likely to do, and evolving its strategies accordingly.
The process of planning generates the purposeful and orderly setting up of activities to be carried on. It defines the boundaries within which the business should operate. This enables the businessman to concentrate upon those matters which are actually relevant and vital to business success.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
The ever-increasing and constant change of the complexity of our society and the police operations demand the utmost skill and careful planning in order to ensure the accomplishment of police objectives and mission. The management of police organizations requires a changing style to keep abreast with the changing society to make the organization stable, thus, planning is a continuous process and never-ending process.
Its importance cannot be minimized even in the local police command, and a commander who ignores it does so at substantial peril. In a very simple sense, planning is deciding in advance on what is to be done and how it is to be accomplished. It is in essence, preparation for actions.
Police, fire, and jail operations demand the utmost skill and careful planning in order to ensure the accomplishment of the police objectives and mission. Planning as a key to the administrative process may mean any of the following:
- The process of combining all aspects of public safety activity and the realistic anticipation of the future problems, the analysis of strategy, and the correlation of strategy to detail;
- The use of rational design or pattern for all the public safety undertakings; and
- The act of determining policies and guidelines for police/fire/jail activities and operations and providing controls and safeguards for such activities and operations in the public safety services.
Elements of Planning:
Planning as a managerial process consists of the following elements or components:
- Objectives:
The important task of planning is to determine the objectives of the organization or enterprise. Objectives are the goals towards which all managerial activities are aimed at. All planning work must spell out in clear terms the objectives to be realized from the proposed business activities. When planning action is taken, these objectives are made more concrete and meaningful. For example, if the organizational objective is profit earning, planning activity will specify how much profit is to be earned looking into all facilitating and constraining factors.
- Forecasting:
It is the analysis and interpretation of the future in relation to the activities and working of an organization. Business forecasting refers to analyzing the statistical data and other economic, political, and market information for the purpose of reducing the risks involved in making business decisions and long-range plans. Forecasting provides a logical basis for anticipating the shape of the future business transactions and their requirements as to man and material.
- Policies:
Planning also requires laying down policies for the easy realization of the -objectives of a business. Policies are statements or principles that guide and direct different managers at various levels in making decisions. Policies provide the necessary basis for executive operation. They set forth overall boundaries within which the decision-makers are expected to operate while making decisions. Policies act as guidelines for taking administrative decisions.
- Procedures:
The manner in which each work has to be done is indicated by the procedures laid down. Procedures outline a series of tasks for a specified course of action. There may be some confusion between policies and procedures. Policies provide guidelines to thinking and action, but procedures are definite and specific steps to thinking and action. For example, the policy may be the recruitment of personnel from all parts of the country; but procedures may be to advertise and invite applications, to take interviews, and offer appointments to the selected personnel.
- Rules:
A rule specifies the necessary course of action in a particular situation. It acts as a guide and is essentially in the nature of a decision made by the management authority. This decision signifies that definite action must be taken in respect of a specific situation. The rules prescribe a definite and rigid course of action to be followed in different business activities without any scope for deviation or discretion.
- Programs:
Programs are precise plans of action followed in proper sequence in accordance with the objectives, policies, and procedures. Programs, thus, lead to a concrete course of inter-related actions for the accomplishment of a purpose. Thus, a company may have a program for the establishment of schools, colleges, and hospitals near its premises along with its expanding business activities. Finally, programs must be closely integrated with the objectives.
- Budgets:
Budget means an estimate of men, money, materials, and equipment in numerical terms required for the implementation of plans and programs. Thus, planning and budgeting are inter-linked. The budget indicates the size of the program and involves income and outgo, input and output. It also serves as a very important control device by measuring the performance in relation to the set goals. There may be several departmental budgets that are again integrated into the master budget.
- Projects:
A project is a single-use plan which is a part of a general program. It is part of the job that needs to be done in connection with the general program. So a single step in a program is set up as a project. Generally, in planning a project, a special task force is also envisaged.
- Strategies:
Strategies are the devices formulated and adopted from the competitive standpoint as well as from the point of view of the employees, customers, suppliers, and government. Strategies thus may be internal and external. Whether internal or external, the success of the plans demands that they should be strategy-oriented.
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