ORGANIZATION PLANNING

Learning Activity #1 – Theme 1

The 21st century manager is the person tasked to implement the leader’s vision and mission for the organization. The manager does this with the help of Fayol’s theoretical framework known as the four pillars of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. This week, we begin our examination of the four pillars of management with the first function, planning.

The planning stage of management is considered by most to be the most important because of the advantages that planning has for achieving goals. Due to the complexity of the business landscape in the 21st century managers are faced with planning and the need for quick change. The agile organization attempts to address the advantages and disadvantages of planning.

  • Explore the Internet and retrieve articles that discuss the pros and cons of the planning function.
  • Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages to the planning function and explain how the manager in an agile organization may use both to his or her advantage.

Learning Activity #2 – Theme 2

There are several elements that result from the planning stage but for our purposes we will focus on the development of long-term and short-term goals. Long-term goals are set by the owners, leaders or upper management depending on the structure, size or type of organization. Long-term goals reflect the big-picture goals and objectives are directly related to the purpose and vision that the leaders and owners develop. In today’s change-dominated business environment long-term goals are set to be accomplished in 2-3 years’ time as opposed to the previous century’s 5-10 years.

Long-term goals are often created through planning and strategizing. The process begins with the vision and mission of the business. To understand the concepts of vision and mission and their role in the process, you will take the role of the leader and formulate the vision and mission of an organization.

  • have a vision statement and mission statement to fit the company described below. Make sure to explain why the vision statement and mission statement fit the company. Be sure to use the course readings in your response to support your reasoning.

Mohammed Abul and his family own the Long-lasting Boot (LLB) store. LLB is a specialty boot store located in the downtown area in a medium sized city Scottsdale, Arizona and sells a broad line of boots to all members of the family including a novelty pet line. The store sells boots for work and recreation as well as a line of expensive cowboy boots for the tourist trade. The business is twenty-five years old. It has a reputation for being the best place to get boots in the community because of the selection, quality, and customer service. LLB will even work with custom designed boots for people with unusually sized feet or medical problems. The boots in some instances, work boots in particular, are considered expensive by middle class buyers but the construction quality is so long-lasting that it makes the higher prices seem worthwhile. The store is successful but sales are very slow growing at the moment. The family is looking to boost sales by developing a competitive edge for the future.

Hint: Before you begin be sure that you clearly understand the difference between a vision and mission statement as well as the purpose they each serve.

 

                                                          Answer

Planning is the process that involves thinking and organizing the activities that a business
is required to attain the set goals and objectives. It is a basic role of management in every
organization, and it promotes efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the desired goals
precisely.
Advantages of planning
Planning provides a unity of purpose, direction, and effort for organizations by focusing
on the objectives. It allows managers to implement future tasks and activities systematically in an
orderly manner, encourages a sense of involvement and team spirit, and educates and orients
staff. Modern management approaches focus heavily on the needs of employees such as building
creative work environments, promoting teamwork, and motivating and professionally developing
employees to achieve common goals. With technology advancements in the 21st century,
planning allows managers to stay informed of new technological advancements that could
benefit operations within the organization. Also, planning enhances the efficiency of other
functions of management and helps to avoid wasting costly resources.
Disadvantages of planning
The biggest problems of the planning process are that the efforts required can become
expensive and time-consuming. Planning is most beneficial when the expected gains from it
exceed the costs of efforts. For example, efforts like collecting and analyzing data to establish
and revise plans require appropriate bandwidth and funds.
Also, external forces can affect the effectiveness of which managers cannot control. It can
hinder the intended goal and direction of plans causing it to be adjusted in a manner that was not
initially expected. As a result, the unforeseen adjustments could cause the organization to incur

additional expenses. Another limitation has various alternatives to combat particular problems.
With each option comes different results and limitations
Comparison of advantages and disadvantages of planning.
Planning has both pro and cons. However, the process of planning has a lot of benefits to
an agile organization than the expense it causes to the company. If a manager knows up front
that a certain course of action is guaranteed to be costly or risk is not worth the cost, then the
potential benefit might be overlooked by management based on the cost. In contrast, although the
risk might not seem worth the predicted outcome in the beginning, if it is acted on, it might be
discovered to have been well worth the risk in the long run.
Mohammed Abul Long-Lasting Boot Store Mission and vision statements.
Long Lasting Boot’s vision statement is to assist the company, and our customers exist
in sustainable society through producing environmentally friendly boots and maximum wealth
for the shareholders. The vision statement is keen to relate the company to the continued calls for
sustainability in business (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). The company will be able to produce
boots that do not lead to environmental pollution and degradation in the long run. Therefore, the
vision statement shows the long term continuity of the business critical in supporting the long
term progression of the company.
On the other hand, the mission statement of Long Lasting Boots is to be the Premier
boots store that realizes and fulfill the customers need Worldwide The mission statement shows
the focus of the company in ensuring that the boots produced meets the expectations as well as
brings about creativity regarding design. Improve customer service, and response to the concerns
of the potential customers is also critical and could be part of the innovations of the company
(Coleman, 2013). The design of the boots will be crucial in inspiring more customers to the

customers. Thus, the mission statement focuses on the short term focus of the company critical in
stimulating additional revenues.

References

Coleman, J. (2013). Six components of a great corporate culture. Harvard Business Review, 5(6),
2013.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Terry, J. (2016). Advantages and Disadvantages of Planning: How to avoid failure of planning.
Retrieved October 14, 2016, from
http://accountlearning.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-ofplanning-how-to-avoid-failure-of-
planning