STEPS OF PLANNING PROCESS - STEP 1: DETERMINING THE ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Planning is the process of deciding in advance ‘what the organization wants to do’ then deciding ‘how it is to be done’ and finally ‘getting it done’. In simple words, it is setting the goals and deciding and performing various activities to achieve that goal.

First and foremost step of the planning process is to determine the organizational objective. Objectives act as the base of planning. It is deciding in advance where the organizations wants to be in future or what it wants to achieve in future. Objectives are the end result for which planning is done. However, planning cannot take place if the future destination is anonymous or vague. Here, objectives act as the future destination which the business wants to achieve. Determining the objectives is very important as it provides a base which leads the whole planning process.

Let’s take an example, ‘A’ wants to drive somewhere in the city however, he does not know where to go exactly i.e. where is his final destination. In such a case he cannot prepare a route map or use a navigation system as no navigation system will work without defining any particular location. Conversely, in another case ‘B’ wants to go to school, his destination is defined and particular. He can easily prepare a route map or can use a navigation tool which can help him to reach the school. This example makes the importance of setting up objectives in advance very clear. Here, destination depicts the objective and the route map or navigation system depicts the planning process. Thus, if destination (objective) is unknown navigation system or route map (planning) is of no use.

While setting objective some of the points should be kept in mind. These are:

• Objectives act as the base of planning thus should be clear and specific.
• First, a general or overall objective must be determined then this objective should be divided section-wise, department wise, or individually in order to be easily comprehensible and attainable.
• Objectives must be set up in consultation with those who are responsible to achieve them i.e. the employees.
• Objectives should be easily understandable and unambiguous to the employees so that they can contribute to maximum of their efforts in achieving them.