Chapter 7:
SUPERVISORY
PLANNING
Leonard: Supervision 11e
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western.
All rights reserved.
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER,
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:
1. Define planning and explain why all management
functions depend on planning.
2. Explain the concept of strategic planning and its
relationship to mission statements and visioning.
3. Describe the supervisor’s role in organizational
planning.
4. Discuss the need for well-defined organizational goals
and objectives, particularly as they relate to the
supervisor.
5. Explain management by objectives (MBO).
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–2
AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER,
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO: (cont’d)
6. Identify the major types of standing and single-use
plans and explain how these plans help supervisory
decision making.
7. Describe how the supervisor plans for efficient and
effective resource use.
8. Explain the key concepts of quality planning.
9. Recognize the importance of planning for the
unthinkable: crisis management.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–3
Management Functions Begin
With Planning
• Planning:
 Is deciding what is to be done in the future.
 Includes analyzing a situation, forecasting events,
establishing objectives, setting priorities, and deciding
which actions are needed to achieve those objectives.
 Precedes all other managerial functions because
managers must project a framework and a course of
action before trying to achieve desired results.
 Planning is a managerial function every supervisor
must perform every day.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–4
The Strategic-Planning Process
• Strategic Planning
 Is the process of establishing goals and making
decisions that enable an organization to achieve its
long- and short-term objectives.
 Is primarily a responsibility of top-level managers for
developing and executing strategic or long-term plans.
 Requires that middle managers and supervisors
engage corresponding (supportive) planning activities
of the organization.
 Is beneficial to all businesses and organizations, large
or small.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–5
The Strategic-Planning Process
• Mission Statements and Visioning
 Mission statement

A statement of the organization’s basic philosophy, purpose,
and reason for being.
 Visioning

Management’s view of what the company should become;
reflects the firm’s core values, priorities, and goals.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–6
All Managerial Levels Perform
the Planning Function
• Planning is the responsibility of every manager.
• The magnitude of a manager’s plans depends
on the level at which those plans are carried out.
 Planning at the top level is more far-reaching than it is
at the supervisory level.
• Planning looks both ways:
 Evaluating previous plans and actions.
 Looking to the future.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–7
FIGURE 7.1
Planning requires answering these questions.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–8
Planning Periods
• Strategic Plan (Long-term Planning)
 Plans, usually done by higher-level management, that
involve a span of three, five, ten, or more years.
• Short-range Planning
 Plans which span less than one year.
• Specialized Planning
 Very short-range plans (e.g., weekly production run or
a single event)
 Preventive maintenance planning
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–9
Organizational Goals and Objectives
• Goal
 Any long-term target—that is,
one that will take more than
a year to achieve
• Objective
 A short-term target—that is,
one that will take less than a
year to achieve.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–10
Organizational Goals and Objectives
(cont’d)
• Goals and Objectives:
 Identify the overall purposes and results toward which
all plans and activities are directed.
 Reflect upper-level managers’ vision for the firm’s
future commitments and accomplishments.
 Become the general framework for operations and
lead to more specific objectives for divisional and
departmental managers and supervisors.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–11
Organizational Goals and Objectives
Supervisors must remember two things when
developing their departmental objectives:
(1) department objectives must be aligned with the
organization’s goals and objectives, and
(2) there must be a means to measure and
document the department’s contribution to the
organization’s bottom line.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–12
Management by Objectives—A System
for Participative Management
• Management by Objectives (MBO)
 A process in which the supervisor and employee
jointly set the employee’s objectives and the
employee receives rewards upon achieving those
objectives.
 Elements of an effective MBO system
1. Specific, measurable, and verifiable objectives
2. The inputs, or resources, needed for goal accomplishment
3. The activities and processes that must be carried out to
accomplish the goal
4. The results
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–13
Management by Objectives—A System
for Participative Management (cont’d)
• Why Use Management By Objectives?
 MBO is results-oriented.
 MBO motivates and encourages commitment to
results among all employees.
 MBO provides a sound means of appraising
individuals’ performance by emphasizing objective
criteria rather than vague personality characteristics.
 MBO provides a more rational basis for sharing the
rewards of an organization, particularly
compensation and promotion based on merit.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–14
Types of Plans
• Standing Plans
 Policies, procedures, methods, and rules that can be
applied to recurring situations.
• Policy
 A standing plan originated by top-level managers that serves as a
general guide to making decisions.
• Procedure
 A standing plan that defines the sequence of activities to be performed
to achieve objectives.
• Method
 A standing plan that details exactly how an operation is to be
performed.
• Rule
 A directive that must be applied and enforced wherever applicable.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–15
Types of Plans
• Single-Use Plans
 Are intended to accomplish a specific objective or
cover only a designated period and are no longer
needed or are obsolete once the objective is
accomplished or the period of applicability is over.
• Budgets
 Express specific anticipated results in numerical,
usually financial, terms for a stated period.
 Are associated with control.
 Include supervisor’s grassroots budgeting of materials
and supplies, wages, utility expenses, and other
departmental expenditures.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–16
Types of Plans (cont’d)
 Program

A major single-use plan for a large
undertaking related to
accomplishing the organization’s
goals and objectives.
 Projects

A single-use plan for accomplishing
a specific, nonrecurring activity.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–17
Supervisory Planning for Resource Use
Planning for the best use of resources:
Efficient use of space
Use of other major physical resources
Use and security of materials, supplies, merchandise, and data
Safe work environment
Full use of human resources
Employee work schedules
Improvement in work procedures and methods
Employee work schedules
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–18
Planning for Resource Use
• Safe Work Environment
 Workplace violence: An act or threat of assault
directed at another employee.
 Observance of OSHA and Other Safety Regulations
 Safety Committees
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–19
Planning for Resource Use (cont’d)
• Full Use of Human Resources Requires:
 Developing plans for recruiting, selecting, and training









employees
Searching for better ways to group activities
Training employees in the proper and safe use of the materials
associated with their jobs
Supervising employees with an understanding of the
complexities of human needs and motivation
Communicating effectively with employees
Appraising employees’ performances
Recognizing achievement
Promoting deserving employees
Adequately compensating and rewarding employees
Taking just and fair disciplinary actions
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–20
Planning for Resource Use (cont’d)
• Employee Work Schedules
 Overtime and absences

Overtime should be considered an exception or an
emergency measure.

Planning for anticipated absences—vacation and holidays
 Alternative work schedule plans:

Flextime

Part-time

Job sharing

Telecommuting

Work-at-home
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–21
Planning for Resource Use (cont’d)
• Employee Work Schedules (cont’d)
 Part-time and temporary employment
Agency hires
 Interim employees

• Improvement in Work Procedures and Methods
 Questions to ask when procedures and methods
need updating:
Is each operation needed?
 What is the reason for each operation?
 Can one operation be combined with another?
 Are the steps performed in the best sequence?
 Are there any avoidable delays?

© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–22
Planning for Resource Use (cont’d)
• Planning Inventory
 To reduce the costs of maintaining large inventories,
many firms use inventory-control techniques that
better plan the inflow of materials needed for
production.

Just-in-time (JIT) inventory control system
– A system for scheduling materials to arrive precisely when they
are needed in the production process.

Kanban
– Another name for a just-in-time (JIT) inventory-control system.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–23
Planning for Resource Use (cont’d)
• Scheduling and Project Planning
 Gantt chart

A graphic scheduling technique that shows the activity to be
scheduled on the vertical axis and necessary completion
dates on the horizontal axis.
 Program evaluation and review technique (PERT)

A flowchart for managing large programs and projects that
shows the necessary activities with estimates of the time
needed to complete each activity and the sequential
relationship of activities.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–24
Crisis Management: Planning Required
• Crisis Planning
 Is planning for the unthinkable and its consequences.
 Is a proactive approach to crisis management.
 Must be an integral part of every organization’s long-
and short-term planning.
 Involves supervisors in anticipating what must be
done to adjust when circumstances and priorities
change rapidly.
 Allows supervisors to use their information-getting
and information-giving skills to help employees
prepare for and address crises.
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–25
KEY TERMS
• Benchmarking
• Program
• Budget
• Program evaluation and review
technique (PERT)
• Gantt chart
• Just-in-time (JIT) inventory
control system
• Project
• Kanban
• Single-use plans
• Knowledge management
• Standing plans
• Management by objectives
(MBO)
• Strategic plan
• Method
• Metrics
• Total quality management
(TQM)
• Mission statement
• Visioning
• Policy
• Workplace violence
• Rule
• Strategic planning
• Procedure
© 2010 Cengage/South-Western. All rights reserved.
7–26