The concept of "planning" consists of defining goals, as well as all the ways to achieve them. Abroad, the planning of activities of any enterprises takes place in such areas as finance, sales, procurement and production. It takes place in four stages. First, common goals are being developed. The second stage - detailed, specific goals are determined for a relatively short, predetermined period of time, for example, 2 years or 5 years. The third stage - the ways and all possible ways to achieve these goals are determined. The fourth stage is the monitoring of the process of achieving all the goals set, and this is done by comparing the planned and actual indicators.
Strategic planning in management will be effective only if its principles are followed. Currently, the following principles of planning in management are distinguished:
1. The principle of unity. The organization is a holistic system and all its components should develop in only one direction. If any part of the organization carries out planned activities, but it is always associated with the general planned activities of this organization as a whole. All plans belonging to her are an interconnected system of documents.
2. The principle of participation. It is understood that the planning process is obliged to attract to itself the people whom it affects. Managers are involved in the preparation of plans and they cease to be something external to them.
3. The principle of continuity. This means that the planning process must be continuous and continuous. Such a situation became possible due to objective circumstances (the uncertainty of the external environment and its changes). As a result of this, the company constantly adjusts its assessment of external conditions, as well as refining plans.
4. The principle of flexibility. The point is that the possibility of plans to change their focus due to unforeseen situations and circumstances is provided.
5. The principle of accuracy. The degree of accuracy of any plan should be as high as possible.
There are planning methods in management, but I would like to dwell in more detail on such a phenomenon as strategic planning in management. This is a set of decisions and actions that are taken by management and lead to the development of only specific strategies. These strategies should help organizations achieve their goals. Strategic planning in management is a tool to help provide the foundation for enterprise management. It has the main task: to provide changes and innovations in the organization of the enterprise to a sufficient extent.
Strategic planning in management includes 4 types of managerial activity :
1. Distribution of various resources (at least limited): managerial talents, funds, technological experience;
2. Adaptation to the external environment. We are talking about all those actions that are strategic in nature and improve the relationship of the company with the environment. In this case, there is a need to identify all possible options and ensure the most effective adaptation of the strategy as a whole to the surrounding conditions.
3. Internal coordination. It is a matter of coordinating strategic activities in order to reflect all aspects of the company (both weak and strong) in order to achieve the most effective integration of all operations within the enterprise.
4. Awareness of organizational strategies. This means that a systematic development of the thinking of managers should be carried out exclusively by forming an organization capable of learning from strategic mistakes that have already been made. It is about the ability to learn from experience.
Among other things, strategic planning in management is of great importance for the successful management of any enterprise.