Monday, 11 October 2021
Planning and setting goals
Purpose of planning
Planning offers a systematic way to cope with that, and to adapt to new conditions
Planning enables people to set objectives, to specify and coordinate actions to
achieve them, and to monitor progress
Warburton’s, a family-owned Lancashire-based bread company, has a goal of
reaching every UK household, challenging the two dominant firms. To achieve this it
had to plan and build new capacity – it opened a bakery in North London in 2003,
and is now searching for a site to the south of London. When two entrepreneurs
decided to create the City Inn hotel chain they planned in detail the kind of hotels
they would be – contemporary, city centre, newly built, ‘active and open’
atmosphere, and a consistent room design across the group.
• Clarifies direction, etc.
Challenges faced by businesses:
- Identify external trends and plan changes accordingly.
- External forces create uncertainty; e.g. COVID cases on the rise again, bringing
huge amount of uncertainty to any business, including the university.
Goal-setting and planning overview
• The activity of planning essentially involves establishing the goals (or objectives)
for the task being planned, specifying how to achieve them, implementing the
plan and evaluating the result.
• Some people (or businesses) can go about their lives with a laissez faire
approach - not much planning or long-term goal setting. But larger organisations
usually do sit down and plan clearly where they want to get to.
• A goal (or objective) is a desired future state for an activity or organisational unit.
This evolves overtime. E.g. University; main heads of functional unit will make 5
year plans.
e.g. Looking at threats like COVID, new technological opportunities, climate change
updates.
Specifying, Implementing, Evaluating
1
, Monday, 11 October 2021
Four main benefits of good planning
• Clarifies direction
• Motivates people
• Helps to use resources efficiently
• Provides a way to measure progress
Good plans give direction to the people whose work contributes to their
achievement
If everyone knows the purpose of a larger activity and how their task contributes,
they can work more effectively
They can adjust their work to the plan (or vice versa), and cooperate and coordinate
with others. It also helps them cope with the unexpected, since
if they understand the end result they can respond to unexpected changes –
without having to ask or waiting to be told.
Planning reduces overlapping activities, and at the same time ensures that someone
is responsible for each activity
A plan helps people coordinate their separate tasks, so saving time and resources;
without a plan they may work at cross purposes.
Finally, planning establishes goals and standards that help people to monitor
progress towards them. Setting final and interim goals lets people know how well
they are progressing, and when they have finished. Comparing actual progress
against the intended goals enables people to adjust the goal or change the way
they are using resources.
Ones goals are set, you need to measure progress. How far are we along the
road? Are we making progress? Going in the right direction?
2
, Monday, 11 October 2021
Does planning help new ventures?
• Delmar and Shane (2003) studied whether planning helps new ventures,
gathering data from over 223 new firms in Sweden. They hypothesised than
planning would support new ventures by:
- Enabling quicker decisions
- Providing a tool for managing and guiding resources to minimise bottlenecks
(e.g. are you going to need to make an investment in a years time, is a particular
piece of equipment vital for the direction you are going to? Or is it old technology
and needs upgrading?
- Identifying actions to achieve broader goals in a timely manner - helps decide
that actions you need to take and when, to move along the road.
Levels of goals and plans
The planning process starts
with a formal mission
statement that defines the
basic purpose of the
organisation.
The mission is the basis for the
strategic (company) level of
goals and plans, which in turn
shapes the tactical (divisional)
level and the operational
(departmental) level.
Top managers and CEO are typically responsible for establishing strategic goals
and plans that reflect a commitment to both organisational efficiency and
effectiveness.
Tactical goals are responsibility of the middle managers. E.g. what the finance
need to do, what HR need to do.
Operational plans identify the specific procedures or processes needed at lower
levels of the organisation. Individual teams. E.g. if the idea was to sell widgets to
India; do we need to open a factory in India? Or make more key contacts?
3
Planning and setting goals
Purpose of planning
Planning offers a systematic way to cope with that, and to adapt to new conditions
Planning enables people to set objectives, to specify and coordinate actions to
achieve them, and to monitor progress
Warburton’s, a family-owned Lancashire-based bread company, has a goal of
reaching every UK household, challenging the two dominant firms. To achieve this it
had to plan and build new capacity – it opened a bakery in North London in 2003,
and is now searching for a site to the south of London. When two entrepreneurs
decided to create the City Inn hotel chain they planned in detail the kind of hotels
they would be – contemporary, city centre, newly built, ‘active and open’
atmosphere, and a consistent room design across the group.
• Clarifies direction, etc.
Challenges faced by businesses:
- Identify external trends and plan changes accordingly.
- External forces create uncertainty; e.g. COVID cases on the rise again, bringing
huge amount of uncertainty to any business, including the university.
Goal-setting and planning overview
• The activity of planning essentially involves establishing the goals (or objectives)
for the task being planned, specifying how to achieve them, implementing the
plan and evaluating the result.
• Some people (or businesses) can go about their lives with a laissez faire
approach - not much planning or long-term goal setting. But larger organisations
usually do sit down and plan clearly where they want to get to.
• A goal (or objective) is a desired future state for an activity or organisational unit.
This evolves overtime. E.g. University; main heads of functional unit will make 5
year plans.
e.g. Looking at threats like COVID, new technological opportunities, climate change
updates.
Specifying, Implementing, Evaluating
1
, Monday, 11 October 2021
Four main benefits of good planning
• Clarifies direction
• Motivates people
• Helps to use resources efficiently
• Provides a way to measure progress
Good plans give direction to the people whose work contributes to their
achievement
If everyone knows the purpose of a larger activity and how their task contributes,
they can work more effectively
They can adjust their work to the plan (or vice versa), and cooperate and coordinate
with others. It also helps them cope with the unexpected, since
if they understand the end result they can respond to unexpected changes –
without having to ask or waiting to be told.
Planning reduces overlapping activities, and at the same time ensures that someone
is responsible for each activity
A plan helps people coordinate their separate tasks, so saving time and resources;
without a plan they may work at cross purposes.
Finally, planning establishes goals and standards that help people to monitor
progress towards them. Setting final and interim goals lets people know how well
they are progressing, and when they have finished. Comparing actual progress
against the intended goals enables people to adjust the goal or change the way
they are using resources.
Ones goals are set, you need to measure progress. How far are we along the
road? Are we making progress? Going in the right direction?
2
, Monday, 11 October 2021
Does planning help new ventures?
• Delmar and Shane (2003) studied whether planning helps new ventures,
gathering data from over 223 new firms in Sweden. They hypothesised than
planning would support new ventures by:
- Enabling quicker decisions
- Providing a tool for managing and guiding resources to minimise bottlenecks
(e.g. are you going to need to make an investment in a years time, is a particular
piece of equipment vital for the direction you are going to? Or is it old technology
and needs upgrading?
- Identifying actions to achieve broader goals in a timely manner - helps decide
that actions you need to take and when, to move along the road.
Levels of goals and plans
The planning process starts
with a formal mission
statement that defines the
basic purpose of the
organisation.
The mission is the basis for the
strategic (company) level of
goals and plans, which in turn
shapes the tactical (divisional)
level and the operational
(departmental) level.
Top managers and CEO are typically responsible for establishing strategic goals
and plans that reflect a commitment to both organisational efficiency and
effectiveness.
Tactical goals are responsibility of the middle managers. E.g. what the finance
need to do, what HR need to do.
Operational plans identify the specific procedures or processes needed at lower
levels of the organisation. Individual teams. E.g. if the idea was to sell widgets to
India; do we need to open a factory in India? Or make more key contacts?
3
