Question

When Chandrashekhar Shukla returned to India after completing a Certificate course in Food Quality Assurance and Quality Control from the Netherlands, he was convinced that he would fulfil his grandfather's dream of converting their 58 acre land into a fertile farm. He started by setting out specific goals and laid down related activities to be performed to achieve the goals. Soon he launched his own company, ‘Food and Agribusiness Solutions Private Limited’. He sought to ensure that future events effectively meet the best interests of the company. He prepared an annual statement for production and sales based on sales forecasting. He noticed that the farmers grew only paddy due to which land remained idle for the subsequent 8 to 9 months of the year. He identified and assessed various alternatives through which farms could be utilised for the remaining months of the year. Through his accurate vision, judgement and systematic thinking based on analysis of the facts, he presented a scheme to the farmers where both paddy and vegetables could be grown.

Identify and explain the features of one of the functions of management highlighted above.

Answer 1

Features of Planning:

1. Planning focuses on achieving objectives: Organisations are set up with a general purpose in view. Specific goals are set out in the plans along with the activities to be undertaken to achieve the goals. Thus, planning is purposeful. Planning has no meaning unless it contributes to the achievement of predetermined organisational goals.
2. Planning is futuristic: Planning essentially involves looking ahead and preparing for the future. The purpose of planning is to meet future events effectively to the best advantage of an organisation. It implies peeping into the future, analysing it and predicting it. Planning is, therefore, regarded as a forward looking function based on forecasting.
3. Planning involves decision-making: Planning essentially involves choice from among various alternatives and activities. The need for planning arises only when alternatives are available. In actual practice, planning presupposes the existence of alternatives. Planning, thus, involves thorough examination and evaluation of each alternative and choosing the most appropriate one.
4. Planning is a mental exercise: Planning requires application of the mind involving foresight, intelligent imagination and sound judgement. It is basically an intellectual activity of thinking rather than doing, because planning determines the action to be taken. However, planning requires logical and systematic thinking rather than guesswork or wishful thinking.