Chap 6: Elements of Planning and Decision-making

Who sets tactical plans?

upper and middle management

What are the four action points of a contingency plan?

1. Basic plan development 2. Plan goes into effect 3. Signs that predict event occurrence 4. Successful completion

What are the four purposes of goals?

1. Guidance and unified direction 2. Affect other aspects of planning 3. Source of employee motivation 4. Effective mechanism for evaluation and control

What are the steps in organizational planning?

1. Understanding the context/environment 2. Developing the Mission 3. Develop strategic, tactical, and operational goals/plans

What are strategic plans?

A general plan outlining decisions regarding resource allocation, priorities, and action steps necessary to reach a goal.

What do operational goals address?

A narrow focus on a small set of activities

What are the two basic kinds of short-range plans?

Action and reaction

What is a single-use plan?

Actions unlikely to be repeated

What are standing plans?

Activities that recur regularly over a period of time.

What purpose of goal setting is associated with this example: Disney has the competitive advantage in streaming services due to their large viewing library. However, they strategically release new movies as to maintain theatre revenue as well as general film momentum.

Affecting other aspects of planning

What is contingency planning?

Alternate action plans for when a plan faces unexpected interruptions

What is optimizing?

Balancing and reconciling possible conflicts among goals

What level of management handles mission goals?

Board of Directors

What time horizon is associated with strategic planning?

Extended

What is Management by Objectives (MBO)

Goal-setting process where management and subordinates collaborate to ensure efficiency.

_________ are critical to organizational effectiveness.

Goals

What are Operational goals?

Goals set by and for lower management, concerned with short-term issues of tactical goals

What are strategic goals?

Goals set by and for top management of an org. focusing on broad and general issues.

What are tactical goals?

Goals set by middle management focusing operationalized actions needed to achieve strategic goals.

What might the CEO be responsible for in the planning process?

Implementing strategy

Goal setting and planning barriers

Inappropriate goals, improper reward systems, dynamic and complex environment, goal establishment reluctance, change resistance, and constraints

What is a Planning task force?

Line managers, and possibly planning staff with primary focus of planning

What are the goal time frames?

Long-term, intermediate-term, and Short-term

What level of management handles Operational goals?

Lower level management

What level of management handles Tactical goals?

Middle Management

What are the four basic goal levels?

Mission, Strategy, Tactical, and Operational

What term is used interchangeably with "operational goals"?

Objective

What are examples of areas of goal setting?

Operations, marketing, and finance

What is an organizations mission?

Outlines purpose, premises, values, and directions

What kind of planning resource would an organization use when addressing a special circumstance?

Planning Task force

What kinds of managers would have involvement in planning?

Planning staff, planning task force, Board of Directors, CEOs, Executive committees, and Line Managers

What are the types of single-use plans?

Program and project

What do strategic goals address?

Questions of scope, resource development, competitive advantage, and synergy

What kind of plan is the Covid 19 pandemic?

Reaction plan

What is a reaction plan?

Reaction to an unforeseen circumstance

What are the reasons an organization might use a planning staff?

Reduce management workload, assist in planning coordination, bring necessary tools and techniques to issues, maintain a broader view than management, and go beyond specific projects and org. departments

Crisis Management

Set of procedures to apply in an unexpected calamity or disaster

What time horizon is associated with operational planning?

Short-term

What time horizon is associated with tactical planning?

Shorter

Is an annual budget a single-use or standing plan?

Single-Use

"Procedures for responding to customer complaints" Is this single-use or standing?

Single-use

What are two basic types of organizational plans?

Single-use and standing

"Procedures for responding to customer complaints" is this single-use or Standing?

Standing

Are "Instructions for completing time sheets" Single-use or standing?

Standing

What do tactical plans address?

Timelines and resources

What level of management handles Strategic Goals?

Top management

What are ways to overcome goal setting and planning barriers

Understanding goal setting/planning purpose, communication and participation, consistency, revision, and updating, and effective reward systems

What are the components of tactical plan execution?

evaluate course of action in light of its goal, obtain/distribute information and resources, monitor horizontal/vertical communication and activity integration, monitor activities for goal achievement

Who sets operational plans?

middle and lower management

What are the types of standing plans?

policy, standard operating procedures, and rules and regulations

What are the components of tactical plan development?

recognize overarching strategic plans and tactical goals, specify relevant resources and time issues, and identify human resources commitments

Who sets strategic plans?

Board of directors and top management

What is an action plan?

Coordinates the actual changes at a given factory

What are circumstances that effect planning success or failure?

Unexpected business responses, faulty assumptions, human error, or luck

______________________ is the corner stone of planning?

decision making

In your role as project leader for the organization's involvement in the annual United Way campaign, you have planned a party to mark the end of the fundraising initiative. What must you do to ensure the party is implemented successfully? a. Send a memo emphasizing how important the United Way campaign is to the community. b. Be sure the people involved get the information they need when they need it. c. Identify how much money is available in the discretionary fund. d. Remind the team of the importance of positive reinforcement.

B.

As the United Way campaign manager, you decide to set several measurable goals in addition to the overall goal for dollars raised: Eight out of ten employees will donate funds to the campaign. Awareness of the company's involvement in the United Way will increase from 70% last year to 90% this year. Which fact about goals is relevant given your goal to see an improvement in awareness? a. Goals provide guidance and a unified direction for people in the organization. b. Goals motivate employees. c. Goals provide a mechanism for evaluation. d. Goals promote good planning and future goal setting.

C.

Given what you know about Twitter's plans, which one of Twitter's goals listed is a strategic goal? A. Update the profile experience on the iPhone with an increased focus on bios, tweets, and photos B. Increase data licensing revenue by 50% C. Strengthen the core user base usage by time spent on timeline, content generation, and mobile engagement D. Increase internal capacity to meet client requests for engineered predictive models and algorithms on massive scale data sets by 20% by the start of the second quarter

C.

You are developing a plan to ensure that employees in your department are dressed appropriately when clients are on-site. What type of plan should you create? a. program b. Standard operating plan c. Project D. Rule

D.

What is the purpose of formal goal setting

clarify expectations of subordinates and encourage them to collaborate in goal setting process.

Tactical goals link a company's strategy with its operations. Given what you know about Twitter's planning process from the reading, which one of Twitter's goals listed is a tactical goal? a. Be one of the top 10 Internet companies in the world as measured by revenues b. Complete coding and testing of look-a-like targeting functionality by end of third quarter c. Expand premium ad products for advertisers to create, manage, and activate tailored audiences including mobile advertising IDs, mobile phone numbers, and look-a-like audiences d. Grow annual revenues by 18%, or more to a range of $1,365-1,375 million

C.