Managerial Planning & Goal Setting

Plan

A blueprint specifying the resource allocations, schedules, and other actions necessary for attaining goals.

Mission Statement

A broadly stated definition of the organization's basic business scope and operations that distinguishes it from similar types of organizations.

Intelligence Team

A cross-functional group of managers and employees who work together to gain a deep understanding of a specific competitive issue and offer insight and recommendations for planning.

Goal

A desired future state that the organization attempts to realize.

Central Planning Department

A group of planning specialists who develop plans for the organization as a whole and its major divisions and departments and typically report directly to the president or CEO.

Management By Objectives (MBO)

A method of management whereby managers and employees define goals for every department, project, and person and use them to monitor subsequent performance.

Stretch Goal

A reasonable yet highly ambitious, compelling goal that energizes people and inspires excellence.

Strategy Map

A visual representation of the key drivers of an organization's success, showing the cause-and-effect relationships among goals and plans.

Strategic Goals

Broad statements of where the organization wants to be in the future; pertain to the organization as a whole rather than to specific divisions or departments.

Tactical Goals

Goals that define the outcomes that major divisions and departments must achieve for the organization to reach its overall goals.

Scenario Building

Looking at trends and discontinuities and imagining possible alternative futures to build a framework within which unexpected future events can be managed.

Decentralized Planning

Managers work with planning experts to develop their own goals and plans.

Standing Plans

Ongoing plans that are used to provide guidance for tasks performed repeatedly within the organization.

Tactical Plans

Plans designed to help execute major strategic plans and to accomplish a specific part of the company's strategy.

Operational Plans

Plans developed at the organization's lower levels that specify action steps toward achieving operational goals and that support tactical planning activities.

Single-Use Plans

Plans that are developed to achieve a set of goals that are unlikely to be repeated in the future.

Contingency Plans

Plans that define company responses to specific situations, such as emergencies, setbacks, or unexpected conditions.

Operational Goals

Specific, measurable results expected from departments, work groups, and individuals within the organization.

Planning

The act of determining the organization's goals and the means for achieving them.

Strategic Plans

The action steps by which an organization intends to attain strategic goals.

Mission

The organization's reason for existence.