Organizational Management 101 : How To Make Plans

In this installment of our guide to organizational management we look at organizational planning…

There is no substitute for proper planning within an organization. The initial plan will generally be a broad organization-wide plan that sets out high-level goals. These can then be made more specific to address different levels of the organization in order to provide clear expectations for each department and employee.

It begins with the highest authorities in the organization assessing where the organization currently is, where it needs to be and what work, programs, and organizational growth (over a period of time (six months, a year, a five years, etc.) are necessary to achieve where it wants to be.

The organization must be divided up into manageable chunks such as divisions or subdivisions and separate goals must be developed for each. The finance division, for example, could be split up into international sales and payroll; and the human resources division would include such sub-divisions as recruitment and employee training.  Objectives must be quantified into clear objectives such as, increase sales by 15%, reduce fourth quarter costs, or improve employee retention. These objectives can be developed from past performance indicators, the natural expected growth of the company, external trends in the industry or market, and even comparisons with companies that provide a similar product or service.

The goals and objectives are the starting point for building a list of specific tasks that will need to be completed in order to reach the goal. The tasks should be laid out in logical sequence and a time-frame for the completion of each determined before they are assigned to particular departments or individuals, who will then be made responsible to complete them.  Review dates should be set and communicated, performance management plans developed, and requisite procedures generated to guide the process.

Where this process is thoroughly addressed, it should result in every person within the organization having a clear goal, represented by a to-do list that includes each ones direct and indirect contributions to the overall objective of the company. It pays to remember, however, that there is a fine line between providing employees with challenging work that encourages them to perform at their best, but that does not overwhelm and demoralize them.  While there are no guarantees of success, proper planning can certainly decrease the odds of failure.