Barriers To Effective Planning †Business Paper

Barriers To Effective Planning – Business Paper Free Online Research Papers Barriers To Effective Planning Business Paper Cronje, Du Toit, Marais and Motlatla (2004:141 142) statement is that, â€Å"planning is the starting point of the management process. Planning is the fundamental element of management that predetermines what the business proposes to accomplish and how it intends in realizing its goals. In other words, planning involves those activities of management that determine the mission and goals of an organization, the ways in which these are to be accomplished, and the deployment of the necessary resources to realize them. In short planning entails a systematic and intelligent exposition of the direction a business organization must follow to accomplish predetermined goals. Planning encapsulates the following three dimensions: ? The determination dimension: The business must determine what it wants to achieve by a specific date in future. This means that goals have to be formulated that will serve as guidelines for the business and its various departments and sub-departments. ? The decision-making dimension: The goals determine the actions that are necessary, or the way in which they might be accomplished. ? The future dimension: A goal is something to be accomplished in the future. Planning establishes a connection between the things that have to be done now to bring about a certain situation in the future.† ? As a fundamental element of management, planning is not only the starting point of the management process, but in a sense also the point around which management activities revolves. The goals and the plans determine the type of organization needed, the leadership required, and the control to be exercised to steer the business as productively as possible towards its goals.† My own statement about planning: â€Å"Planning include the organizations objectives or goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing a comprehensive structure of plans to integrate and coordinate activities.† The focus on the first question will be to identify the barriers to effective planning and the measurements to overcome the barriers. First part: Identify barriers to effective planning: Stephen P. Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2004: 79 80) identify the following barriers to effective planning: ? â€Å"Planning may create rigidity: formal planning efforts can lock an organization into specific goals to be achieved within specific timetables. When these objectives were set, the assumption may have been made that the environment wouldn’t change during the time period the objectives cover. If that assumption is faulty, managers who follow a plan may have trouble. Rather than remaining flexible- and possibly scrapping the plan-managers who continue to do what is required to achieve the original objectives may not be able to cope with the changed environment. Forcing a course of action when the environment is fluid can be a recipe for disaster. ? Plans can’t be developed for a dynamic environment: Today most organizations face dynamic change in their environments. If a basic assumption in making plans-that the environment won’t change-is faulty, then how can one make plans? We describe today’s business environment as chaotic, by definition, that means random and unpredictable. Managing chaos and turning disasters into opportunities require flexibility, and that may mean not being tied to formal plans. ? Formal plans can’t replace intuition and creativity; Successful organizations are typically the result of someone’s vision, but these visions have a tendency to become formalized as they evolve. Formal efforts typically follow a methodology that includes a thorough investigation of the organization’s capabilities and opportunities and a mechanistic analysis that reduces the vision to a programmed routine. That can spell disaster for an organization. For instance, the rapid rise of Apple Computer in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s was attributed, in part, to the creativity and anticorporate attitudes of one of its co-founders, Steven Jobs. But as the company grew, Jobs felt a need for more formalized management, something he was uncomfortable performing. He hired a CEO, who ultimately ousted Jobs from his own company. With Job’s departure came increased organizational formality-the very thing Jobs despised because it hampered creativity . ? Formal planning reinforces success, which may lead to failure; we’ve been taught that success breeds success. That has been an American tradition. After all, if it’s broken, don’t fix it.Right? Well, maybe not! Success may, in fact, breed failure in an uncertain environment. It is hard to change or discard successful plans-to leave the comfort of what works for the anxiety of the unknown. Successful plans, however, may provide a false sense of security-generating more confidence than they deserve. Managers often won’t deliberately face that unknown until they are forced to do so by changes in the environment. But by then, it may be too late†. Second part: And discuss the measures to overcome such barriers: Cronje, Du Toit, Marais and Motlatla (2004: 141 142) Identify the following measurements to overcome the barriers: ? â€Å"Management should recognize the limitations of planning and understand that Plans will require adjustments on an ongoing basis (Cronje,et ,al,2004). With respect to the degree of variability, the greater the uncertainty, the more plans should be of the short-term variety. That is, if rapid or important technological, social, economic, legal, or other changes are taking place, well-defined and precisely chartered routes are more likely to hinder an organization’s performance than to aid it. Shorter-term plans allow for more flexibility. ? Management should ensure effective communication of organizational plans at all levels (Mancosa Business Management 101 guideline). Planning establishes coordinated effort. It gives direction to managers and non-managers alike. When all organizational members understand where the organization is going and what they must contribute to reach the objectives, they can begin to coordinate their activities thereby fostering cooperation and teamwork. ? Planning compels managers to look to the future. It eliminates crisis management by obliging future-oriented management to anticipate threats in the environment, and to take steps in time to avert them. By looking back over the past and forward to the future, management can organize the present so that the future will be as prosperous as possible. ? Planning ensures that business keep abreast of technology. The influence of modern technology on contemporary businesses, especially in the development of complex products using complicated processes, makes heavy demands on planning. It takes about ten years to develop a supersonic aircraft or a military helicopter. It is very expensive in both time and money to launch such a project, and proper planning is critical to its success. ? Planning promotes stability. Probably the most important single factor-even in smaller or less complex business-that makes planning indispensable is rapid change in the business environment. Indeed, strategic planning has its origins in the very instability that has been one of the main characteristics of the business environment since the 1960s. Planning, therefore, encourages proactive management. In other words, management plays an active part in the future of the business†. Research Papers on Barriers To Effective Planning - Business PaperThe Project Managment Office SystemLifes What IfsBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesOpen Architechture a white paperDefinition of Export QuotasIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Hockey GameResearch Process Part OneMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

A Separate Peace The Heart of Darkness essays

A Separate Peace The Heart of Darkness essays There are many similarities between the books The Heart of Darkness and A Separate Peace. Most are between the two main characters' friends and how they deal with their situations and problems. The similarities between the two characters are their leadership skills, their expertise, and how their friends affect them. Mr. Kurtz and Finny both have incredible leadership skills. Finny is able to persuade Gene to do practically anything he wants him to do which in the end is his downfall since he convinces Gene to climb the tree with him and do a double jump. He also shows his leadership skills when he gathers a lot of the students and teaches them a new game that is fitted perfectly to his physical abilities. Mr. Kurtz showed these skills when he had the courage to go into the cillages of cannibals and convince them to give him their ivory or to tell them where they knew there was some. He also saved Marlow and his crew's lives when he commanded the natives to stop firing at their steamboat. "Kurtz got the tribe to follow him, did he?" I suggested. He fidgeted a little. "They adored him," he said." At the drop of his finger, he could have had the natives attack Marlow and his crew and kill them. While Mr. Kurtz and Finny are both alive, they are extremely good at what they do. Before his accident, Finney is the most athletic student at his school. After the accident, he tries to help Fene to become more athletic. His dream is for Finny to make the Olympics instead of him. Mr. Kurtz worked for a company that found ivory and then sold it to the public. "The he began again, assuring me Mr. Kurtz was the best agent he had, an exceptional man." Mr. Kurtz also brought back the most ivory then any other employee; "Sends in as much ivory as all the others put together." Both Mr. Kurtz and Finny had friends that had something to do with their deaths. In Finny's case, his friend Gene accidently jarred him off the tree bran...

Worldview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Worldview - Essay Example A worldview is the opinion that every individual holds toward the existence or purpose of something. In this case, the naturalist worldview is that there is no God that maintains or sustains all life in the universe. Theism is the belief that at least one god exists. However, the liberal view held by most is that it is not our task to prove that there is no God, rather; the task of a believer to prove that a god does exist. This paper will examine the naturalist worldview about the existence of God, and the impact such a view has on the lives of naturalists. The worldview on God is that He is a Supernatural Being that individuals and believers pray to in order to find a higher purpose with/in their lives. It is the naturalist’s view that there is no presence of such a Supernatural Being that sustains life in the universe. Naturalism brings forth the understanding that nature is the ultimate reality, and that no deity is involved in its maintenance. It is this view that brings focus to the thought that nothing, beyond nature itself, has any effect upon the world individuals dwell or exist. Some of the characteristics of God are that He tends to be jealous when individuals pay homage to anything apart from Him (Adams, 1993). This is evident in the texts that exist that describe Him as a jealous God. The Holy Book includes commandments that He gave to mankind so that they could live in harmony with Him, and fellow mankind (Adams, 1993). Another characteristic is that He is omnipresent. This means that He was there from the beginning, and will be there till the end. From a naturalist’s point of view, it may be next to impossible for the existence of life for such a long time. There is the beginning of life, but then, there is also the end of life. Human beings came about as a result of evolution. The beginning of mankind is a cause, and was as a result of a cause. It is the naturalist worldview that we are caused creatures, and that all factors involv ed give man the power and control over all that surrounds them. By comprehending the fact that mankind is materially based, it is only fair that this point of view connects man to the physical world, hence; enabling man to be at home in the physical state of the world (Adams, 1993). After death, there is the biological aspect of nature, which is summarized as decomposition. There are no souls that continue on after death because man is purely physical in nature. It is this worldview that mankind gives back to the physical state of the universe. It is considered nature’s way of sustaining existing life, and giving rise to new beings. The nature of the universe is self-sustenance. It is only through evolution, not supernatural or religious understanding, that the universe is brought together. This is under a common objective of sustaining all life on earth. Naturalism focuses the attention of mankind on what works, increasing an individual’s efficiency toward the natural environment. Mankind is, therefore; better placed to create social policies that aim at increasing the togetherness of the social, political, and environmental scene (Carrier, 2010). Through the creation of different factors, for example; compassion and empathy, the universe assists mankind to reduce the chances of self-righteousness, superiority with regards to morality, guilt, and ultimately shame. It is through these factors that individuals know what they know. Through the introduction and advancement in science, individuals are engaging in thoughts about the nature and characteristics of life. Just as Christian believers choose to believe the existence of a Supreme Being,