PLANNING & ITS PROCESSES WITH VARIANTS

SHARING MY EXPERTISE ON THE TOPIC OF "PLANNING & ITS PROCESS", WITHOUT PLANNING NOTHING CAN BE WORKED OUT EITHER IN OUR LIFE NOR IN OUR WORK & EVERYTHING NEEDS PROPER PLANNING WHICH SHOWS THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR REACHING THE RIGHT DESTINATION ON RIGHT TIME.

WHAT IS PLANNING REALLY DEFINES?

Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It is the first and foremost activity to achieve desired results. It involves the creation and maintenance of a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills. There are even a couple of tests to measure someone’s capability of planning well. As such, planning is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. An important further meaning, often just called "planning" is the legal context of permitted building developments.

Also, planning has a specific process and is necessary for multiple occupations (particularly in fields such as management, business, etc.). In each field there are different types of plans that help companies achieve efficiency and effectiveness. An important, albeit often ignored aspect of planning, is the relationship it holds to forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting what the future will look like, whereas planning predicts what the future should look like for multiple scenarios. Planning combines forecasting with preparation of scenarios and how to react to them. Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques. Planning is preparing a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific goal. If a person does it effectively, they can reduce much the necessary time and effort of achieving the goal. A plan is like a map. When following a plan, a person can see how much they have progressed towards their project goal and how far they are from their destination.

PLANNING PROCESS

Outline a three-step result-oriented process for planning:

1.   choosing a destination

2.   evaluating alternative routes

3.   deciding the specific course of the plan

In organizations, planning can become a management process, concerned with defining goals for a future direction and determining on the missions and resources to achieve those targets. To meet the goals, managers may develop plans such as a business plan or a marketing plan. Planning always has a purpose. The purpose may involve the achievement of certain goals or targets.

Major characteristics of planning in organizations include:

·        Planning increases the efficiency of an organization.

·        Planning reduces risks.

·        Planning utilizes with maximum efficiency the available time and resources

The concept of planning in Organizations involves identifying what an organization wants to do by using four questions: "where are we today in terms of our business or strategy planning? Where are we going? Where do we want to go? How are we going to get there?"

Alternatives to planning

Opportunism can supplement or replace planning. 

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing new leaders who can replace old leaders when they leave, retire or die. Succession planning increases the availability of experienced and capable employees that are prepared to assume these roles as they become available. Taken narrowly, "replacement planning" for key roles is the heart of succession planning.

·        In dictatorships, succession planning aims for continuity of leadership, preventing a chaotic power struggle by preventing a power vacuum. In monarchies, succession is usually settled by the order of succession.

·        In business, succession planning entails developing internal people with the potential to fill key business leadership positions in the company.

Effective succession or talent-pool management concerns itself with building a series of feeder groups up and down the entire leadership pipeline or progression. In contrast, replacement planning is focused narrowly on identifying specific back-up candidates for given senior management positions. Thought should be given to the retention of key employees, and the consequences that the departure of key employees may have on the business.

Fundamental to the succession-management process is an underlying philosophy that argues that top talent in the corporation must be managed for the greater good of the enterprise. Most of the companies argue that a "talent mindset" must be part of the leadership culture for these practices to be effective.

Business succession planning

Organizations use succession planning as a process to ensure that employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company. Through one's succession-planning process, one recruits superior employees develops their knowledge, skills, and abilities, and prepares them for advancement or promotion into ever more-challenging roles. Actively pursuing succession planning ensures that employees are constantly developed to fill each needed role. As one's organization expands, loses key employees, provides promotional opportunities, or increases sales, one's succession planning aims to ensure that one has employees on hand ready and waiting to fill new roles.

According to a 2006 Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey, slightly more than one third of owners of independent businesses plan to exit their business within the next 5 years - and within the next 10 years two-thirds of owners plan to exit their business. The survey also found that Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not adequately prepared for their business succession: only 10% of owners have a formal, written succession plan; 38% have an informal, unwritten plan; and the remaining 52% do not have any succession plan at all. A 2004 CIBC survey suggests that succession planning is increasingly becoming a critical issue. The CIBC estimated that by 2010, $1.2 trillion in business assets would be poised to change hands.

Research indicates many succession-planning initiatives fall short of their intent. "Bench strength", as it is commonly called, remains a stubborn problem in many if not most companies. Studies indicate that companies that report the greatest gains from succession planning feature high ownership by the CEO and high degrees of engagement among the larger leadership team.

Companies well known for their succession planning and executive-talent development practices include: General Electric, Honeywell, IBM, Marriott, Microsoft, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble.

Research indicates that clear objectives are critical to establishing effective succession planning. These objectives tend to be core to many or most companies that have well-established practices:

·        Identify those with the potential to assume greater responsibility in the organization

·        Provide critical development experiences to those that can move into key roles

·        Engage the leadership in supporting the development of high-potential leaders

·        Build a database that can be used to make better staffing decisions for key jobs

In other companies these additional objectives may be embedded in the succession process:

·        Improve employee commitment and retention

·        Meet the career development expectations of existing employees

·        Counter the increasing difficulty and costs of recruiting employees externally

SUNDARAMURTHY VELMURUGAN, LEATHER PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT.

a2z Leather Professional Consultancy, PONDCHERRY.

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