Plan, the academic language of management. From the two Chinese characters of "plan", "plan" means calculation, "plan" means division, "plan" is subordinate to goal achievement, and "plan" means analysis and calculation of how to achieve goals, andGoal decompositionThe process and conclusion of sub goals.
Planning is the advance prediction, arrangement and contingency treatment of future activities.The purpose of a plan is to achieve the proposed goals. Each plan is aimed at a specific goal. Therefore, a plan should first clarify the goals of the plan.After the goal is clear, the basic issues such as how to do it, who does it, when to do it, where to do it, and how much resources to invest must also be stated in the plan.[3]
The elements of a complete plan are shown in the table below.
Elements that should be included in a complete plan
type
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There are many kinds of plans, which can be classified according to different standards.The main classification criteria are: the importance of the plan, time limits, clarity and abstraction.However, according to these classification standards, the plan types obtained are not independent of each other, but closely related.For example,Short term planandLong term plan，strategic planandOperation planEtc.
By importance of plan
In terms of the importance of plans, they can be divided into strategic plans and operational plans.
The plan applied to the overall organization, which sets overall goals for the organization and seeks the organization's position in the environment, is called the strategic plan.The plan that specifies the details of how to achieve the overall goal is called the operation plan.The strategic plan is different from the operational plan in terms of time frame, scope and whether it contains a known set of organizational goals.Strategic plans tend to include persistenttime intervalThey cover a wide range of fields and do not specify specific details.In addition,strategic planOne of the important tasks is to set goals;The job plan assumes that the goal already exists, and only provides the method to achieve the goal.
Divided by planned period boundary
plan
Financial personnel are accustomed toPayback periodIt is divided into long-term, medium-term and short-term.Long term refers to more than 5 years, short term refers to less than 1 year, and medium term refers to between the two.Managers also use the long, medium and short term to describe plans.The long-term plan describes the development direction and policy of the organization in a long period of time (usually more than 5 years), specifies the goals and requirements that each department of the organization should achieve when engaging in certain activities in a long period of time, and draws a blueprint for the long-term development of the organization.The short-term plan specifically stipulates what activities each department of the organization should engage in and what requirements it should meet in the next short period, especially in the recent period, thus providing a basis for the actions of the members of each organization.
According to the clarity index of the plan content, the plan can be divided intoSpecific planandGuiding plan。
Planning model
plan
The specific plan has clearly defined objectives, and there is no ambiguity.For example, enterprisesSales DepartmentThe manager intends to increase the sales of the enterprise by 15% in the next six months. He will formulate a clear procedure, budget plan and schedule, which is the specific plan.The guiding plan only stipulates some general guidelines and action principles, giving greater freedom to actorsDisposal powerIt points out the key points but does not limit the actors to specific goals or specific action plans.For example, a person who increases salesconcrete planIt may be stipulated that the sales will increase by 15% in the next six months, while the guiding plan may only stipulate that the sales will increase by 12%~16% in the next six months.Compared with the guiding plan, although the specific plan is easier to implement, assess and control, it lacks flexibility, and its requirements for clarity and predictability are often difficult to meet.
Hierarchical from abstract to concrete
Harold Koontz He and Hein Wellick divided the plan into goals or missions, goals, strategies, policies, procedures, rules, programs, and budgets from abstract to concrete.
1. Purpose or mission
plan
It indicates the role that a certain organization should play in society and its position.It determines the nature of the organization and the symbol that distinguishes this organization from that organization.All kinds of organized activities, if they are to be meaningful, should at least have their own goals or missions.For example, the mission of universities is to teach, educate andscientific researchThe mission of the research institute is scientific research, the mission of the hospital is to cure the sick and save the people, the mission of the court is to interpret and implement the law, and the purpose of the enterprise is to produce and distribute goods and services.
2. Objectives
plan
The purpose or mission of an organization is often too abstract, and Taiyuan is the rule. It needs to be further specified as the goal of the organization for a certain period and the goal of each department.The mission of the organization dominates the goals of each period and each department of the organization.In addition, the objectives of the organization in each period and each department are formulated around the mission of the organization, and are intended to achieveOrganizational missionAnd hard.Although teaching and scientific research are the mission of a university, a university will further specify the goals in different periods and the goals of each department when fulfilling its mission, such as how many talents have been trained and how many papers have been published in the last three years.
3. Strategy
A strategy is a general plan of actions and resources to achieve the overall objectives of an organization. Its purpose is to determine and convey what an organization expects to become through a series of major objectives and policies.The strategy is not intended to outline exactly how the organization will accomplish its goals, which is the task of numerous major and minor supporting plans.
4. Policy
plan
A policy is a comprehensive statement or understanding that guides or communicates decision-making ideas.But not all policies are statements, and policies are often implicitly reflected in the actions of executives.For example, the customary way of executives to deal with a problem is often used by subordinates as a model to deal with such problems, which may be an implicit and potential policy.Policies can help to decide problems in advanceprocessing method, on the one hand, reduce theRoutine Problems The cost of time processing, on the other hand, unifies other plans.The policy supports the decentralization, and also supports the superior's control over the decentralization.Policies allow freedom to deal with certain things. On the one hand, we must not regard policies as rules, and on the other hand, we must limit this freedom to a certain extent.The size of the authority of free processing depends on the policy itself on the one hand, and on the supervisor'sThe Art of Management。
5. Procedure
A procedure is a plan for developing an essential method of dealing with future activities.It details the practical ways to complete certain activities, andChronological orderArrange the necessary activities.It is different from strategy. It is a guide to action rather than a guide to thought.Unlike policy, it does not give actors the right to deal with it freely.In the consideration of theoretical research, we can distinguish policy from procedure, but in practice, procedure is often manifested as organizational policy.For example, a manufacturing enterprise's order processing programFinance DepartmentThe procedures for approving customer credit and the procedures for accounting departments to record transactions are all reflected in enterprise policies.Every department in the organization has procedures, and at the grass-roots level, the procedures are more specific and more numerous.
6. Rules
There is no room for discretion in the rules.It clarifies the necessary or unnecessary actions in detail and clearly, and its essence is a management decision.Rules are usually the simplest form of planning.Rules are different from procedures.First, the rules guide the action but do not specify the time sequence;Second, a procedure can be regarded as a series of rules, but a rule may or may not be a part of a procedure.For example, "No smoking" is a rule, but it has nothing to do with the procedure;One rule isCustomer serviceThe procedure ofcustomer needThe service information must be replied within 30 minutes.
Rules are not equal to policies.The purpose of the policy is to guide action and leave room for executives to deal with it as appropriate;Although the rules also play a guiding role, the executors have no right to handle the application of the rules themselves.
It must be noted that, by their nature, rules and procedures are intended to constrain ideas;Therefore, rules and procedures can only be used when the organization members are not required to use their own processing rights.
7. Programme
The plan is a comprehensive plan, which includes objectives, policies, procedures, rulestask allocation , the steps to be taken, the resources to be used, and other factors needed to complete the established course of action.A plan may be large or small.Usually, a major program (planning) may require many support plans.These supports must be provided before the main plan is carried outPlanningCome out and put it into practice.All these plans must be coordinated and timed.
8. Budget
A budget is a numberExpected resultsReport for.The budget is usually for planning, and it may also be a planning in itself.
main features
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1. Targeted.The plan is formulated according to the guidelines, policies and relevant laws and regulations of the Party and the state, and the actual situation of the system and the department. It has a clear purpose and guiding significance.
2. Foresight.The plan is formulated before the action. It aims to achieve the future goals and complete the next step of work and learning tasks.
3. Primacy.Planning is the premise of other management work. Plan first and act later.[1]
4、universality。The actual planning work involves every manager and employee in the organization. After the overall goal of an organization is determined, managers at all levels makeOrganizationTo be successful, we need to make plans.[1]
5、Purposiveness。All kinds of goals formulated by any organization or individual are to promote the realization of the overall goal of the organization and the goal of a certain period.
6. Clarity.The plan shall clearly express the objectives and tasks of the organization, the resources needed to achieve the objectives, the procedures, methods and means adopted, and the rights and responsibilities of managers at all levels during the implementation of the plan.
1. The planning work serves to achieve the organizational objectives.
2. Planning is the bridge of management activities and the basis of management activities such as organization, leadership and control.
3. Planning work is universal and orderly.
4. Planning should pursue efficiency.[2]
structure
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1. Article style, that is, the plan is written item by item according to the guiding ideology, objectives and tasks, measures and steps. This form has a strongIllustrativeandGeneral, often used for globalWork plan。
2. Table format, that is, the whole plan is expressed in the form of a table, which is often used for short time, single content orQuantitative indicatorsMore work plans.
3、time axisFormula, that is, the whole plan is listed according to the main timeline at one time, and the content is prepared according to the implementation sequence.
DruckerHe believes that it is not the work that leads to the goal, but on the contrary, the goal can determine everyone's work.Therefore, "the mission and task of the enterprise must be transformed into goals". If there is no goal in a field, the work in this field will inevitably be ignored.Therefore, managers should manage their subordinates through objectives. When the organizationSenior managersAfter the organizational objectives are determined, they must be effectively broken down into sub objectives of each department and individual. The manager will assess, evaluate, reward and punish the subordinates according to the completion of the sub objectives.
Rolling plan method
The rolling plan method is to formulate a plan for a certain period according to the principle of "near detail, far coarseness", and then according to the implementation of the plan andenvironmental change , adjust and revise the future plan, and move backward one by oneMedium term planA combination of planning methods.
This method regularly revises the future plan according to the implementation of the plan and environmental changes, and moves forward one by one, so that the short-term plan and medium-term plan are organically combined.Because it is difficult to accurately predict the economic, political, cultural, technological, industrial, customer and other changes that will affect the survival and development of the organization in the future in the planning workPlanning periodThe extension ofUncertaintyIt gets bigger and bigger.Therefore, such as mechanical implementation according to the plan prepared several years ago, or mechanical and static implementationStrategic plan, which may lead to huge errors and losses.The rolling plan method can avoid the adverse consequences of this uncertainty.The specific approach is to formulate plans in a near detailed and far rough way.
Network planning technology is a kind of sciencePlan management method, it followsModern science and technologyandindustrial production From the development of.In the 1950s, in order to adapt to scientific research and new productionOrganizational managementThe need forPlan managementNew method of.1956, USADuPontThe company has researched and created theCritical pathMethod (abbreviated asCPM）, and try on achemical engineeringWe have achieved good resultseconomic effects。1958America NavyThe Weapons Department applied the program review method (abbreviated asPERT）The project was planned, evaluated, reviewed and controlled with great success.In the early 1960s, network planning technology was popularized in the United States. All new construction projects fully adopted this new method of plan management, and began to introduce this method into Japan andWestern EuropeOther countries.With the rapid development of modern science and technology and the continuous improvement of management level, network planning technology is also developing and improving.It has been widely used in industries, national defense, construction, transportation, scientific research and other fields around the worlddeveloped countryA prevailing modernityProduction managementOfscientific method。
program
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Any planned work should follow certain procedures or steps.Although small plans are relatively simple and large plans are more complex, the work steps of managers when preparing plans are similar, including the following in turn:
1. Understanding opportunities
Understanding opportunity is prior to the actual planning work. Strictly speaking, it is not a part of the plan, but a real starting point of the planning work.Because it predicts the futurePossible changes, clearly and completely recognize thatorganization development To understand the strengths, weaknesses and position of the organization, recognize the ability of the organization to take advantage of opportunities, and recognize the impact of uncertainty on the organizationPossibleThe degree of influence, etc.
Understanding opportunities is very important for planning.A business expert said: "Recognizing opportunities is the key to survival and development through overcoming risks."Zhuge LiangThe story of "borrowing an arrow from a boat" has been handed down for centuries, and its cleverness lies in that he saw it for three daysHoujiangMeetingIt was foggy, but Cao Jun didn'tgood at swimmingThe opportunity that sex dare not fight has miraculously realized its ownstrategic target。enterprise operation There are many such examples.
2. Define goals
The second step of making plans is to set goals for the whole organization and its subordinate units based on the recognition of opportunities. Goals refer to the expected results, which point out the direction for the whole organization, departments and members, describe the future situation of the organization, and can be used as a standard to measure actual performance.The main task of the plan is toOrganizational objectivesIt is broken down layer by layer so that it can be implemented to all departments and activities to form an organizational goal structure, includingTime structureandspace structure。
3. Determine prerequisites
The precondition of planning work is the assumption of planning work. In shortPlan implementationThe expected environment of.The more the personnel in charge of the planning work understand the plan premise, the more thorough they are, and can consistently use it, the more coordinated the planning work will be.
According to the internal and external environment of the organization, the preconditions for planned work can be divided into external preconditions and internal preconditions;The preconditions for planned work can also be divided into uncontrollable, partially controllable and controllable preconditions according to the degree of controllability.The external preconditions are mostly uncontrollable and partially controllable, while the internal preconditions are mostly controllable.The more uncontrollable preconditions, the greater the uncertainty, the more it is necessary to determine the probability of their occurrence and the magnitude of their impact through prediction.
4. Propose feasible alternatives
The fourth step in preparing the plan is to seek, formulate and select feasible action plans."All roads lead to Rome" describes that there are many ways to achieve a certain goal.Usually, the most obvious scheme is not necessarily the best scheme. A slight modification and deduction of the past scheme will not lead to the best scheme. An unobtrusive scheme or a scheme that is usually not put forward by people will often have the best effect, which reflects the importance of scheme innovation.In addition, the more programs, the better.It is rare that there are no reasonable alternatives when preparing plans. It is more common not to find more alternatives, but to reduce the number of alternatives so that the most promising ones can be analyzed.Ready to useMathematical methodAnd computers, we still need to limit the number of options, so that we can focus on the analysis of a few of the most promising options.
5. Evaluation of alternatives
After finding out various alternative schemes and checking their advantages and disadvantages, the next step is to weigh their advantages and disadvantages according to the preconditions and objectives, and evaluate the alternative schemes.Evaluation is essentially avalue judgment On the one hand, it depends on theevaluation criterion；On the other hand, it depends on the weight given by the evaluator to each standard.A scheme may seem to be the most profitable, but it requires a lot of cash, and the recovery of funds is slow;The other plan may seem less profitable, but less risky;The third plan does not have much benefit in the near future, but it may be more suitable for the long-term goal of the company.Should useOperational ResearchRelatively matureMatrix evaluation method、Analytic Hierarchy Process, Multi targetEvaluation methodTo evaluate and compare.
If the only goal is to maximize the current profit in a business, if the future is not uncertain, if there is no need for cash and capitalusabilityAnxiety, if most factors can be broken down into certain data, it will be relatively easy to evaluate under such conditions.However, because planners are usually faced with many uncertainties, capital shortage and various intangible factors, the evaluation work is often difficult, even for simple problems.A company wants to produce a new product mainly for reputation;The prediction results show that this may cause financial losses, but whether the reputation gains can offset this loss is still an unresolved problem.Because in most cases, there are many alternatives, and there are many variables and constraints that should be considered, the evaluation will be extremely difficult.
plan
The following points should be taken into consideration when evaluating alternative plans: first, carefully investigate the constraints and hidden dangers of each plan;Second, we should use the overall benefit perspective to measure the plan;Third, we should consider both the tangible factors that can be expressed in quantity of each plan and the intangible factors that cannot be expressed in quantity;Fourth, we should dynamically examine the effect of the plan. We should not only consider the benefits brought about by the implementation of the plan, but also consider the losses brought about by the implementation of the plan, especially those potential and indirect losses.
6. Select Scheme
The sixth step of planning is to select a scheme.This is a key step based on the first five steps, and it is also a decision-making stepSubstantiveStage - decision stage.It may happen that there are sometimes more than two desirable solutions at the same time.In this case, it is necessary to determine which scheme to adopt first, and refine and improve other schemes toBackup scheme。
The basic plan also needs the support of the derived plan.For example, at the beginning of the year, a company formulated a policy of "sales of the current year increased by 15% over the previous year"Sales planThere are many plans connected with this plan, such asProduction plan、Promotion planEtc.Another example is when a company decides to develop a new business, this decision needs to be supported by many derivative plans, such as plans to hire and train various personnel, plans to raise fundsAdvertising planwait.
8. Budgeting
After making the decision and determining the plan, the last step of the planning work is to convert the plan into a budget and digitize the plan.Budgeting, on the one hand, is for planningIndicator systemMore explicit, on the other hand, it makes it easier for enterprises to control plan implementation.Qualitative plans tend toComparability、ControllabilityIt is difficult to carry out rewards and punishments, while quantitative plans have relatively hard constraints.
effect
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In management practice, plans are othermanagement functionsAnd also infiltrates into other management functions,LeninIt has been pointed out that "any plan is a yardstick, criterion, beacon and signpost." It is the central link of the management process, so the plan has a special important position and role in management activities.
Planning is the guiding principle for the survival and development of an organization
We are in an era of economic, political, technological and social change and development.In this era, reform and development have brought both opportunities and risks to people, especially in competing for markets, resourcesSphere of influenceThis is especially true in the competition.If managers can minimize risks while identifying and utilizing opportunities, that is, build a convenient and stable bridge on the way to the goal, then the organization will be invincible and survive and develop in the vertical and horizontal selection of opportunities and risks.If you don't plan well or don't plan at all, you will encounter disastrous consequences.
In modern society, the division of labor between organizations in all walks of life and their internal components is becoming more and more sophisticated, and the process is becoming more and more complex,Coordination relationshipMore rigorous.We should take these complicatedOrganismTo organize scientifically so that the activities of each link and department can be linked up in time, space and quantity, and to focus on the overall goal as well as go their own way and coordinate with each other, we must have a strict plan.If there is no plan for organization, coordination, control, etc. in management, it is as inconceivable as that there is no process design in advance in the automobile assembly plant.
Plan is the criterion for command and implementation
The essence of the plan isDefine goalsAnd specify the ways and means to achieve the goal.Therefore, the plan is undoubtedly the criterion of all people's behaviors in management activities, how to make progress step by step towards the established goals and finally achieve the organizational goals.It guides people in different spaces, at different times and at different posts to achieve their sub goals orderly around a general goal.Behavior if notPlan guidance，ManagedInevitably, it is shown as aimless blind movement, while the managers are shown as making decisions day after day, following their own inclinations, and contradicting themselves.The result must be chaos in organizational order, with half the effort and no money.In modern society, it can be said that almost every cause, every organization, and even everyone's activities can not be without a blueprint.
Planning is not only the premise and criterion of organization, command and coordination, but also closely linked with management and control activities.The plan determines the data, scale and standard for various complex management activities, which not only points out the direction for control, but also provides the basis for control activities.Experience tells us that unplanned activities cannot be controlled, and there is no control.Because the control itself is to make the management activities consistent with the requirements of the objectives by correcting the deviations from the plan.
