Foundations of
Planning and
Strategic
Management
dhruska@efzg.hr
What Is Planning?
• Planning
¾ A primary managerial activity that involves:
™ Defining
the organization’
organization’s goals
an overall strategy for achieving those goals
™ Developing plans for organizational work activities.
™ Establishing
¾ Types of planning
™ Informal:
not written down, shortshort-term focus; specific to an
organizational unit.
™ Formal: written, specific, and longlong-term focus, involves
shared goals for the organization.
Why Do Managers Plan?
• Purposes of Planning
¾ Provides direction
¾ Reduces uncertainty
¾ Minimizes waste and redundancy
¾ Sets the standards for controlling
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Planning and Performance
• The Relationship Between Planning And
Performance
¾ Formal planning is associated with:
™ Higher
profits and returns on assets.
™ Positive
financial results.
¾ The quality of planning and implementation affects
performance more than the extent of planning.
¾ The external environment can reduce the impact of
planning on performance,
¾ Formal planning must be used for several years
before planning begins to affect performance.
How Do Managers Plan?
• Elements of Planning
¾ Goals
™ Desired
outcomes for individuals, groups, or entire
organizations
™ Provide
direction and evaluation performance criteria
¾ Plans
™ Documents
that outline how goals are to be accomplished
™ Describe
how resources are to be allocated and establish
activity schedules
Types of Goals
• Financial Goals
¾ Are related to the expected internal financial
performance of the organization.
• Strategic Goals
¾ Are related to the performance of the firm relative to
factors in its external environment (e.g., competitors).
• Stated Goals versus Real Goals
¾ BroadlyBroadly-worded official statements of the organization
(intended for public consumption) that may be
irrelevant to its real goals (what actually goes on in
the organization).
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Types of Plans
Types of Plans
• Strategic Plans
¾ Apply to the entire organization.
¾ Establish the organization’
organization’s overall goals.
¾ Seek to position the organization in terms of its
environment.
¾ Cover extended periods of time.
• Operational Plans
¾ Specify the details of how the overall goals are to be
achieved.
¾ Cover short time period.
Types of Plans (cont’
(cont’d)
• LongLong-Term Plans
¾ Plans with time frames extending beyond three years
• ShortShort-Term Plans
¾ Plans with time frames on one year or less
• Specific Plans
¾ Plans that are clearly defined and leave no room for
interpretation
• Directional Plans
¾ Flexible plans that set out general guidelines, provide
focus, yet allow discretion in implementation.
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Specific Versus Directional Plans
Types of Plans (cont’
(cont’d)
• SingleSingle-Use Plan
¾ A oneone-time plan specifically designed to meet the
need of a unique situation.
• Standing Plans
¾ Ongoing plans that provide guidance for activities
performed repeatedly.
Establishing Goals and
Developing Plans
• Traditional Goal Setting
¾ Broad goals are set at the top of the organization.
¾ Goals are then broken into subgoals for each
organizational level.
¾ Assumes that top management knows best because
they can see the “big picture.”
picture.”
¾ Goals are intended to direct, guide, and constrain
from above.
¾ Goals lose clarity and focus as lowerlower-level managers
attempt to interpret and define the goals for their
areas of responsibility.
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Establishing Goals and Developing
Plans (cont’
(cont’d)
• Maintaining the Hierarchy of Goals
¾ Means–
Means–Ends Chain
™ The
integrated network of goals that results from establishing
a clearlyclearly-defined hierarchy of organizational goals.
™ Achievement of lowerlower-level goals is the means by which to
reach higherhigher-level goals (ends).
Establishing Goals and Developing
Plans (cont’
(cont’d)
• Management By Objectives (MBO)
¾ Specific performance goals are jointly determined by
employees and managers.
¾ Progress toward accomplishing goals is periodically
reviewed.
¾ Rewards are allocated on the basis of progress
towards the goals.
¾ Key elements of MBO:
™ Goal
specificity, participative decision making, an explicit
performance/evaluation period, feedback
Steps in a Typical MBO Program
1. The organization’s overall objectives and strategies are
formulated.
2. Major objectives are allocated among divisional and departmental
units.
3. Unit managers collaboratively set specific objectives for their
units with their managers.
4. Specific objectives are collaboratively set with all department
members.
5. Action plans, defining how objectives are to be achieved, are
specified and agreed upon by managers and employees.
6. The action plans are implemented.
7. Progress toward objectives is periodically reviewed, and
feedback is provided.
8. Successful achievement of objectives is reinforced by
performance-based rewards.
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Does MBO Work?
• Reason for MBO Success
¾ Top management commitment and involvement
• Potential Problems with MBO Programs
¾ Not as effective in dynamic environments that require
constant resetting of goals.
¾ Overemphasis on individual accomplishment may
create problems with teamwork.
¾ Allowing the MBO program to become an annual
paperwork shuffle.
Characteristics of WellWell-Designed Goals
• Written in terms of
outcomes, not actions
• Challenging yet attainable
¾ Low goals do not motivate.
¾ High goals motivate if they
can be achieved.
¾ Focuses on the ends, not
the means.
• Measurable and
quantifiable
¾ Specifically defines how the
outcome is to be measured
and how much is expected.
• Clear as to time frame
• Written down
¾ Focuses, defines, and
makes goals visible.
• Communicated to all
necessary organizational
members
¾ How long before measuring
accomplishment.
¾ Puts everybody “on the
same page.”
page.”
Steps in Goal Setting
1. Review the organization’
organization’s mission statement.
Do goals reflect the mission?
2. Evaluate available resources.
Are resources sufficient to accomplish the mission?
3. Determine goals individually or with others.
Are goals specific, measurable, and timely?
4. Write down the goals and communicate them.
Is everybody on the same page?
5. Review results and whether goals are being met.
What changes are needed in mission, resources, or goals?
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Developing Plans
• Contingency Factors in A Manager’
Manager’s Planning
¾ Manager’
Manager’s level in the organization
™ Strategic
plans at higher levels
™ Operational
plans at lower levels
¾ Degree of environmental uncertainty
™ Stable
environment: specific plans
™ Dynamic
environment: specific but flexible plans
¾ Length of future commitments
™ Commitment
Concept: current plans affecting future
commitments must be sufficiently longlong-term to meet those
commitments.
Planning in the Hierarchy of Organizations
Approaches to Planning
• Establishing a formal planning department
¾ A group of planning specialists who help managers
write organizational plans.
¾ Planning is a function of management; it should never
become the sole responsibility of planners.
• Involving organizational members in the process
¾ Plans are developed by members of organizational
units at various levels and then coordinated with other
units across the organization.
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Contemporary Issues in Planning
• Criticisms of Planning
¾ Planning may create rigidity.
¾ Plans cannot be developed for dynamic
environments.
¾ Formal plans cannot replace intuition and creativity.
¾ Planning focuses managers’
managers’ attention on today’
today’s
competition not tomorrow’
tomorrow’s survival.
¾ Formal planning reinforces today’
today’s success, which
may lead to tomorrow’
tomorrow’s failure.
Contemporary Issues in Planning
(cont’
(cont’d)
• Effective Planning in Dynamic Environments
¾ Develop plans that are specific but flexible.
¾ Understand that planning is an ongoing process.
¾ Change plans when conditions warrant.
¾ Persistence in planning eventually pay off.
¾ Flatten the organizational hierarchy to foster the
development of planning skills at all organizational
levels.
Strategic Management
• What managers do to develop the
organization’
organization’s strategies.
Strategies
• The decisions and actions that determine the
longlong-run performance of an organization.
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Strategic Management (cont’
(cont’d)
• Business Model
¾ Is a strategic design for how a company intends to
profit from its strategies, work processes, and work
activities.
¾ Focuses on two things:
™ Whether
customers will value what the company is providing.
™ Whether
the company can make any money doing that.
Why is Strategic Management Important
1. It results in higher organizational performance.
2. It requires that managers examine and adapt
to business environment changes.
3. It coordinates diverse organizational units,
helping them focus on organizational goals.
4. It is very much involved in the managerial
decisiondecision-making process.
The Strategic Management Process
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Strategic Management Process
• Step 1: Identifying the organization’
organization’s current
mission, goals, and strategies
¾ Mission: the firm’
firm’s reason for being
™ The
scope of its products and services
¾ Goals: the foundation for further planning
™ Measurable
performance targets
• Step 2: Doing an external analysis
¾ The environmental scanning of specific and general
environments
™ Focuses
on identifying opportunities and threats
Strategic Management Process (cont’
(cont’d)
• Step 3: Doing an internal analysis
¾ Assessing organizational resources, capabilities, and activities:
activities:
™
™
Strengths create value for the customer and strengthen the
competitive position of the firm.
Weaknesses can place the firm at a competitive disadvantage.
¾ Analyzing financial and physical assets is fairly easy, but
assessing intangible assets (employee’
(employee’s skills, culture, corporate
reputation, and so forth) isn’
isn’t as easy.
• Steps 2 and 3 combined are called a SWOT analysis.
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)
Strategic Management Process (cont’
(cont’d)
• Step 4: Formulating strategies
¾ Develop and evaluate strategic alternatives
¾ Select appropriate strategies for all levels in the
organization that provide relative advantage over
competitors
¾ Match organizational strengths to environmental
opportunities
¾ Correct weaknesses and guard against threats
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Strategic Management Process (cont’
(cont’d)
• Step 5: Implementing strategies
¾ Implementation: effectively fitting organizational
structure and activities to the environment.
¾ The environment dictates the chosen strategy;
effective strategy implementation requires an
organizational structure matched to its requirements.
• Step 6: Evaluating results
¾ How effective have strategies been?
¾ What adjustments, if any, are necessary?
Types of Organizational Strategies
• Corporate Strategies
¾ Top management’
management’s overall plan for the entire
organization and its strategic business units
• Types of Corporate Strategies
¾ Growth: expansion into new products and markets
¾ Stability: maintenance of the status quo
¾ Renewal: redirection of the firm into new markets
Levels of Organizational Strategy
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