Question

How can the planning function assist managers with problem solving and decision making to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in business practices?

Use an example or examples please

Answer 1

Planning is a process of working upon various types of ways that could help achieve a desirable outcome and accordingly, design the actions required to be taken to achieve the same along with the estimation of the resources that could be employed for the purpose and the preparation of overall time-frame to ensure the timely achievement of the objectives. Planning is important to the Organization because it is all-pervasive. Planning is necessary across all the Departments of an Organization.

For example, in the Supply Chain, Planning aggregates the demand and supply in order to chart down the action that is most suitable for meeting the needs of sourcing, making, delivering and returning, which are the other significant processes of the operations and supply chain. Planning further helps in determining the scope and configuration of the supply chain model, based on which the Managers may undertake the decisions regarding the kind of ERP to be used in the supply chain system, the areas to be covered in the supply chain model, designing of the intermediaries in the channel, etc.

In terms of Human resource planning, Planning function shall be that function that is undertaken in order to link the human resource requirements, be it current or in the future, to that of the Organizational goals. It should therefore help in taking decisions regarding the Organizational overall strategic objectives by satisfying the Human resource requirements in accordance to the same. The main purpose of the Human Resource Planning is optimizing the usage of the Human resource asset in the best possible manner to realize the strategic goals as laid down by the Management for an Organization and to develop a process which is a continuous one in nature with a systematic plan in place that helps in satisfying the Human resource requirements but in accordance with the Organizational goals. The decisions are made by the managers with Planning function for the Human resource because

• Planning helps estimate the current labor supply in the Organization
• It further forecasts the labor demand in future that shall be needed by the Organization to achieve its strategic goals.
• It balances the supply and demand of labor available to the Organization that is essential to support the Organizational goals.

In terms of marketing, planning function is the sub-function of the overall planning of the Corporate and hence should always be in the line with the Company’s business strategy. The promotional activity of Direct marketing planning ranges from a week to even a year or more on the basis of the complexities involved in the marketing program that could utilize various promotional media in the process. Planning needs to have a clarity regarding the program of Direct Marketing so that it becomes feasible to measure the same the success of the same.

The Planning function in Direct marketing is undertaken by the managers by defining the communication objectives which should align the direct marketing requirements followed by the evaluation of the marketplace in terms of the competition or analysis of the business environment which should also be coupled with any previous experiences with similar lines of programs. Accordingly, Planning function would help to develop a sensible communications strategy for direct marketing which could be enhanced in future based upon the needs. The implementation framework should also be in place along with the evaluation of the norms governing the Direct Marketing planning process.

In this manner, planning function assist managers with problem solving and decision making to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in business practices.