Name and explain the four reasons planning is important in management.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Planning is the very heart of management, for it helps managers reduce the uncertainty of the future and thereby do a better job of coping with the future. Hence, a fundamental reason for planning is that planning leads to success--not all the time, but studies show consistently that planners outperform nonplanners (MacMillan & Selden, 2008; Miller & Cardinal, 1994; Mitchell, Harman, Lee, & Lee, 2009). A second reason for planning is that it gives managers and organizations a sense of being in control of their fate rather than leaving their fate to chance. Hence, planning helps organizations do a better job of coping with change--technological, social, regulatory, and environmental. A third reason for planning is that it requires managers to define an organization’s objectives and thus provides context, meaning, and direction for employees’ work. By defining and ensuring that all employees are aware of overall goals--why they are doing what they are doing--employers can tie more effectively what employees are doing to the organization’s overall objectives (Gamble, Thompson, & Peteraf, 2017). A great deal of research indicates that the process of defining objectives leads to better employee performance and satisfaction.
A final reason for planning is that without objectives effective control is impossible. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Planning may occur, however, over different levels or time frames.