Concepts of Planning in Organization - Term Paper Example

As emphasized, the ability to design strategies that would direct the organization towards achieving a defined goal should first consider how goal setting was effectively established. The three steps involved in the planning process, explicitly stated as: “(1) deciding which goals the organization will pursue, (2) deciding what strategies to adopt to attain those goals, and (3) deciding how to allocate organizational resources to pursue the strategies that attain those goals” (Jones and George 9), have provided one with the guidelines to ensure that planning is appropriately implemented. Thus, the crucial function of a manager in terms of planning different activities and endeavours that subordinates must undertake would depend on the competencies, skills, and capabilities of the leader. It necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the resources of the organization     In terms of the function of organizing, which was defined as establishing “task and authority relationships that allow people to work together to achieve organizational goals” (Jones and George 8), one learned through the concepts and theories on managing organizational structure and culture (chapter 10). Under organizing, one was made aware that organizational structure, which is supposedly the outcome of this function, is “a formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates and motivates members so they work together to achieve organizational goals. Organizational structure determines how an organization’s resources can be best used to create goods and services” (Jones and George 12). Thus, it was noted that managers should be able to effectively discern the perfect match of utilizing the organization’s resources, and how much costs need to be entailed to maximize profits.

 The third relevant task of a manager – leading, was described as the ability to “motivate, coordinate, and energize individuals and groups to work together to achieve organizational goals” (Jones and George 8). More detailed theories of leading were discussed in the whole portion of part five: leading individuals and groups; and which were separately discussed in three chapters: Chapter 13: Motivation and Performance; Chapter 14: Leadership; and Chapter 15: Effective Groups and Teams (Jones and George). There have been diverse leadership theories that tackle leadership traits, skills, and characteristics that make them effective leaders; leadership styles; motivational theories; and other contemporary leadership concepts – transformational leadership and even servant leadership, among others. One strongly believes that this function of management is crucial as it does not only focus on the leader to gauge the effectiveness in achieving defined organizational goals. It was, therefore, learned that there is a need to incorporate a comprehensive understanding of the subordinates’ personalities and competencies; as well as the situation at hand.

 The fourth task, controlling, was defined as evaluating “how well an organization has achieved its goals and to take any corrective actions needed to maintain or improve performance” (Jones and George 12). Thus, again, to be able to undertake this function, the importance of going back to standards or goals is imminent.  As emphasized, “to exercise control, managers must decide which goals to measure—perhaps goals pertaining to productivity, quality, or responsiveness to customers—and then they must design control systems that will provide the information necessary to assess performance—that is, determine to what degree the goals have been met” (Jones and George 13).  The concepts learned provided the theoretical frameworks which would guide one in future decision-making processes involving these four relevant tasks.