Importance Of Planning In Management

Planning in layman terms is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities or steps required to achieve the desired results. Planning has a specific process and is necessary for fields like business and management. Planning is preparing of sequence of action steps to achieve a pre-set goal, therefore planning is an important task in project management.

Planning is basic management function which involves preparation of more than one detailed plans to achieve maximum balance of needs and demands with the available resources. The planning process ascertains the goals and objectives to be achieved, conceptualise strategies to achieve those goals and objectives, arranges the means required to put the plan in work and implement, directs

• Primacy of planning: Before undertaking any new development or activity, the first task to be performed is planning. Other functions like organization, staffing, directing and monitoring etc. are followed up by planning. Without deciding the course of actions and choosing the best available action amongst it no other function can be performed. For example, a new resource cannot be added without specifying the objectives.

• All managers plan: Planning is a fundamental managerial function since all the manager across the department has to undertake planning activities. There is a misconception that only managers at top level do planning, which is wrong as the managers at middle and lower level to undertake planning activities. The degree of planning differs at each level, managers at top level engage in fundamental planning effecting the organization as a whole. The scope and extent of planning tend to get restricted as the level goes

Business Plan: Business plans, used for starting up of any business are the corner stones of the planning methods. The business plan components are: executive summary, market analysis, description of products and services and financial operations projections for the time period of minimum 3-5 years. In case of start-ups the financial business plan should focus on highlighting the founders and a realistic approach to make the business a success. In case of a growth business plan, the management should highlight the past performances and expected performance of the new business activity. The business pan here should contain the plan for debt repayment