The Planning Function of Management

Most companies have a vision, mission statement, and a set of core values. These three things are normally made up by a group of senior managers or a leadership team. Once these three things are decided upon, the upper management or leadership team should deliver the information to the management below them, so the important information is delivered to all levels of employees within the company. After the these three things have been set, most companies will post their vision, mission statement and core values somewhere for all employees to see. Often time’s new employees are given copies of these three things in orientation or on their first day of work. Coming up with the vision, mission statement and core values are just one way that managers get together to plan and set goals. All functions of planning must be used by managers in order for the company to succeed; planning helps the company to reach the set goals. All levels of management should use strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Each level of management tends to plan differently, but at the end of the day, all managers should consult with each other when it comes to setting goals to successfully acting out each plan. “Managers at all level--top, middle, and lower—require each of the three planning types discussed. Traditionally strategic planning has been associated with top-level managers, operational planning has been associated with middle-level managers and “to-do-list” planning has been associated with lower-level managers or supervisors” (Carroll, 1993, para. 16). Bateman and Snell (2007) stated, “Strategic planning involves making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies” (Chap. 4, p. 122). The strategic goals are usually set by high level managers because of the complexity of the goals. Strategic goals tend to deal with the measure of growth of the company, market share and value, profitability, return on investment (ROI), quantity and quality of

References: Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (2007). Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT330-Management: Theory, Practice, and Application Web site Carroll, A. (1993, Spring). Three types of management planning: making organizations work. Management Quarterly 34(1), p. 32. Retrieved March 17, 2007 from Thompson Gale PowerSearch database. Loucks, P. (2007, February). Plugging into performance management. Canadian HR Reporter, 20(4), 21-22. Retrieved March 17th, 2007 from ProQuest database.