Characteristics of a Good Planning Process

Characteristics of a Good Planning Process

Planning deals in future of the organization. Therefore organization must appropriately plan the future. Characteristic of a good planning process has been explained below;

1.    Based on Facts & Analyses

Planning must be supported by the fact & figures. It means that a details study of the data is essential for setting appropriate future objective /target (plans). This is utmost critical that realistic and implementable plans are set for the organization.

2.    Effective Participation

Planning is a question existence for the organization; therefore an effective participation is required at all level of the organization. It is not possible to frame good plans in absence of effective participation & inputs of stakeholders /Department.

3.    Objective & Goals are well Defined

Final Objective and goal should be well define and documented. There must not be any ambiguity about the future direction & destination. Such goal and objective should not be in the mind of the management, but on the paper.

4.    Role  & Responsibility

Plan should identify the roles and responsibilities for implementation the plans. Planning is done for implementation and implementation is done through people. Therefore people must know their implementing roles for timely and effectively execution of plans.

5.    Communication

Plans should be well communicated to the staked holder or concerned. It is not all about defining the roles and responsibility, but important thing is to communicate them to concerned individuals. Communication also includes development an understanding of the role by the concerned.

6.    Review & Up dating

Planning is not a static process and requires a regular review and updating. There must be a system of regular review of the plans and based on such review the plans are required to be updated.

Characteristics of Strategic Planning
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Characteristics of Good Planning Process

Advantages of Bottom up Planning

Advantages of Bottom up Planning

In case of bottom up planning data is collected and analysed at lower tier of management .The plans/ suggestions are formulated and forwarded to top management  for formal approval and implementation. Top management set plans on recommendations of lower tier of management. There are number of advantages of bottom up planning which have been explained below;

1.    Realistic Plans

Bottom up planning helps in formulating realistic plan for the organization. Operation manager has more information & knowledge about grounds realities, therefore their inputs are really helpful for defining realistic & achievable targets.

2.    Sense of Responsibility

Bottom up planning helps promote a sense of responsibility among lower tier of management. They take ownership of plans formulated on their recommendations. They will make a full effort to achieve the goals set by themselves.

3.    Self Monitoring

Bottom up planning serves as self monitoring tool for the employees to achieve the target set by them. Therefore there is no need to monitor the performance of the lower management.  Thus bottom up planning improves overall efficiency level of organization and reduces the need of supervision or monitoring.

4.     Problems with Solution

In bottom up planning problems comes with well defined solutions. People facing the problem always have some good solutions to solve these problems. This will save management time for finding the solutions of problems faced by employees.

5.    Decisions Options

Bottom up planning provides number of option to the management for decision making and planning. Some options are in the mind of management and some options are provided by lower tier of management.

6.    Collective Wisdom

Bottom up planning is a kind of collective wisdom. World recognized that collective wisdom provides better grounds for decision making.

7.    Improved Communication

In Bottom up planning, a lot of communication is happening between lower and top tiers of management. This communication is healthy for the organization in number of ways i.e. problems identifications, healthy environment, team building etc.