Planning and Decision-Making

Planning
Definition and Nature of Planning
All managers must engage in planning
Planning is the process f setting goals and
choosing the means to achieve those goals
It is the process of determining how the
organization can get where it wants go
Planning means preparing for tomorrow
today
Cont..
In planning process managers
Establish goals
Anticipate future development
Identify course of actions required to attain
the goals
Determine the time frame
Cont
planning is a key management function enables
managers to decide in regard to any intended
activity
1. What is to be done? (Goal)
2. Who is to do it? (people who perform the goal)
3. When is to be done? (Time frame)
4. Where is to be done? (place)
5. How is to be done? (steps and methods to reach
goals)
6. How much?(resource required necessary to reach
the goal)
The planning function can be
characterized
1. Planning is the primary management
function
2. Planning is a continuous process
planning deals with the future, and the
future by its nature is uncertain
3. Planning concerns all managers: planning
is the responsibility of all managers
The amount of time and span of plan vary
by management level
Cont
4. Plans are arranged in hierarchy: plans first set
for the entire organization called the corporate
plan
The corporate (strategic) plan provides
framework for the formulation of divisional,
departmental, and sectarian goals
5. Planning is future oriented: all types of plans
established by managers affect future
effectiveness of the organization, as decision
made activities undertaken in the present
continue to have their impact in to the future
Cont
6. Planning is opposite of status quo: planning
is undertaken with the conscious purpose of
attaining a position for the company that
would not be accomplished otherwise
Planning, therefore, implies change in
organizational objective, polices, producers,
marketing strategies, and so forth
7. Flexibility: planning allows managers the
opportunity to adjust the organization to
the environment instead of merely to react
to it
Cont
8. Planning is action-oriented: plans that are
blue print should necessarily follow by
action they should not be paper tigers

Plans need to be translated in to action

Importance of planning
Planning has a number of importances to
organization
Without plans, manger cannot know how to
organize people and resource effectively
They may not even have a clear idea of what
they need to organize
Without a plan they cannot lead with
confidence or expect other to follow them
Cont
1. Planning establishes coordinated effort
2. Planning is a way to reduce uncertainty
through anticipating change
3. Planning can reduce overlapping, wasteful
resources and activities coordination before
the fact is likely to uncover waste and
redundancy
4. Planning establish the objectives or
standards that are to be used to facilitate
control
Characteristics of a good plan
1. Objectivity
2. Futurity
3. Flexibility
4. Stability
5. Comprehensiveness
6. Clarity and simplify
The Planning Process
Planning is a logical and systematic activity
The planning processes indicate the major
steps that are taken in planning
The steps are interrelated and there is no
rigid boundary between or among the steps,
and one is base for the other
Cont
1. Understanding of the existing situation
2. Forecasting
3. Establishing objectives: organization
objectives give direction to the major plans
4. Determine alternative courses of action
5. Evaluating the alternative
6. Selecting a course of action (selecting the
best solution)
Cont
7. Formulating derivative plan: when decision
is made, planning is seldom complete
8. Number plans by budgeting: converting the
activities plan in to budget
9. Implementing the plan
10. Controlling and evaluating the results
Types of Plan
Plans can be classified on different bases or
dimensions
Scope/breath dimension
Repetitiveness
Time dimension
Classification of plans based on
Scope
Based on their scope or breath plans can be
classified into three categories
1. Strategies planning
2. Tactical planning, and
3. Operational planning
1. Strategies Planning
Strategies planning is the process through which
managers determine the organizations basic
mission and the set of means for archiving this
mission
Strategic planning is the process of analyzing, and
deciding on: the organizations mission, vision and
objective, major course of action and major
resource allocation
Strategic planning is prepared by top level
executive by taking in to account internal and
external environment
Cont
Strategic plans:
Are organizational wide
Establish the organizations over all goals
Tend to be the long terms success and
direction of the organization
Are performed by top level managers
Expressed in relatively general non-specific
terms
2. Tactical Planning
Tactical planning is the processes through
which managers design coherent groups of
activities to accomplish a strategy
It is a means of translating strategies in to
short-term tactics
Facilitate objectives, because they are
prepared as a performance targets
Cont
Tend to be short-term, usually not more
than two years
Prepared by middle level managers who are
responsible in directing departments,
divisions on order similar sub-units of the
organization
3. Operational Planning
Operational planning is the process through
which managers design specific activities
and steps to accomplish objectives
It is made at the operational level and
concerned with the day-to-day, week-to-
week activities of the organization
First-level-managers are responsible for
accomplishing (preparing) the operational
planning
Operational planning is narrow in scope and
short lived, usually a few months
Classification of plans based on
Repetitiveness
Based on repetitiveness plans can be classified
in to two
1. Single use plans
2. Standing plans
1. Single use Plans
Single use plans are developed to deal with
one short situation for a given purpose or a
given period of time and then discarded
The most common forms of single use plans
found in organization are: budget, project and
program
2. Standing Plans
Standing plans are those plans that can be
cased again and again
They enable top management to provide a
clear guideline for middle and lower level
management
Standing plans include: mission, goal or
objective, policy, procedures, method, rule
A. Mission
The mission is general statement that
identifies the basic functions or task or any
part of it
Mission can also be defined as the purpose
of existence of the organization
Mission is a general statement which
realizes vision attainment based on using
different approach
B. Objective (goal)
Objective are statement of organization
targets or the end results that administrator
(managers) seek to achieve
In other words, objective is based on SMART
They are the ends, toward which activity of
the organization is aimed
They represent not only the end point of
planning but also the ends toward which
other management function are aimed
C. Strategies
Strategies are ways and means to achieve the
established objectives
Strategies are major course of action that the
organizational plans to take in order to
achieve objectives
D. Polices
While objectives refer what is to be done,
policies focus on how organizational
objectives will be achieved
Policies provide a general guideline to action
E. Procedures
Whereas polices are general frame work to attain
the organizational objectives procedures are
specific steps required to achieve goals
Procedures show chronological/ sequences of
required action

F. Methods
Whereas procedures shows a series of steps
to taken, a method is only concerned with
the single operation, with one particular
step, and it tells exactly how this particular
step is to be performed
Classification of Plans based on Time
All planning deals with the future and the
future is measured in time
It is convenient and acceptable to think of
different kinds of planning in terms of the time
periods for which the planning is intended
We can classify plans intro three based on time
as:
1. long range plans,
2. Intermediate plans and
3. Short range plans
Cont.
A. Long range Planning
Long range planning has longer time horizon
The time may range usually from 5-10 years
B. Short range Planning
The period is generally one year; sometimes it
can go up to two years
C. Intermediate-range Planning
Intermediate range planning ranges between
long and short term range planning
What is ?????
Vision
Mission
Overall goal and
Objectives
Developing Vision Statements
The vision: Question- What should the
future of Somaliland look like if MoH
provided free Health
For example:
For all the citizens of Somaliland to attain
the highest quality health status and
social wellbeing equitably and sustainably.
Developing Mission Statements
Mission: Question: What is the institutions
mandate/function/what is its core business and is
everybody in the ministry/department aware and
clear about it?
For example:
To create an enabling environment for the provision
of socially acceptable, affordable, accessible,
equitably distributed essential package of quality
health care that responds to the need of the
community, with special attention to the most
vulnerable in the population and delivered in a
sustainable way through a decentralized health
system within Somaliland
Develop clear goal statements
The overall goal is directly related to the
problem you want to solve.
MoFMR
Example: We aim to improve the health
condition of the people by creating health
care system to give the communities
sustainable health
Develop statement of objectives
A statement of objectives must be SMART
Example:
To improve the governance functions for
the health care system in Somaliland by
50% in the next 5 years
To expand 80% the options available in
financing health care
To reduce the mortality rate of pregnancy
women in Hargeisa by 60% within 5 years
To provide training to 100 health facilitators
yearly
Exercise
Prepare in details the following in a selected
organizations or institutions:
Vision
Mission
Overall goal and
Objectives
Decision-Making
Nature of decision making
Decision making is the process of defining
problems, generating alternative solutions,
choosing one alternative, and implementing it
It is a rational choice among alternatives
It is enables administrators (managers) to solve
social, economic and political problem
Decision making is universal: it is a part of all
managers jobs
All managers make decisions constantly while
performing the management functions
Decision making process
Decision making process is a system of
inputs, processes and outputs
Decision making involves several steps that
lead managers towards optimal solution
Managers are required to solve
organizational problems
Decision making steps
1. Define the objective
Well defined operational objectives would be
essential in detecting and identifying problems
to be solved by decision maker
2. Diagnose and define the problem
Recording the kind and nature of the problem
that exists within an organization is the most
important and difficult in decision-making
process
It is essential to examine problems thoroughly,
recognize symptoms and identify causes
Cont.
3. Identification of alternative course of
action
Decision making situations are problem situations
that involve choice; at this point managers need to
look for, develop, and list as many possible alternatives
(choices) which represent feasible courses of action for
dealing with the problem at head
4. Analyze the alternatives
The purpose of this step is to decide on the alternative
merits of each of the alternatives
The process involves screening alternatives, examining
the advantages of each course of action, and analyzing
each alternative
Cont.
5. Making choice
After assessing decision maker must make a
decision that is optimal
The optimal choice will be one that
generates that greatest the possible benefits
with the fewest negative consequences
Cont.
6. Implement the solution
The solution needs effective
implementation to yield the desired results
A. Develop action plan
B. Consider the resource involved in decision
making
C. Assign specific responsibilities for
decision implementation
D. Anticipate problems that might occur
during decision implementation
Cont.
7. Follow-up and evaluate the decision
Follow-up and evaluation (control) are
needed to guide actions toward desired
results
The system should provide feedback on how
well the decision was implemented, what
the results are (positive or negative), and
what adjustments are necessary to get the
results that were wanted when the solution
was chosen
Types of Decisions
There are two categories of decision
1. Programmed decisions
Programmed decisions are those that are
made in predictable circumstances and have
predictable results
Results are predicable because similar
decisions have often been made before
under similar and recurring circumstances
Cont.
2. Non-programmed decision
Non programmed decisions are those that
are made in unique circumstances and often
have unpredictable results
While programmed decisions can be
anticipated, non-programmed decisions
must be dealt with as they occur
Modern management techniques for non-
programmed decisions are much less
developed than for programmed decisions
Decision making under different
conditions
Managers make dictions under their
different conditions
1. Decision making under certainty
2. Decisions under risk
3. Decision under uncertainty
Making plans effectiveness
The followings are the major guidelines for
making effective decision:
1. Use information effectively: using
information effectively is one way to reduce
confusion and improve decision because it is
the quality of timely information that helps
manages make good decisions
2. Enhance systems for decision making:
creating sound full working system and
continuous improvement of the system is
essential for effective decision-making