KARPAGAM INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

UNIT II

16 MARK QUESTIONS WITH ANSWER KEY

Sub: MG2351 Principle of Management

Class: IV EEE

1. Write and explain the nature and purpose of plan

Nature of Planning (8 Marks)
1. Planning is goal-oriented: Every plan must contribute in some positive way towards the
accomplishment of group objectives. Planning has no meaning without being related to goals.
2. Primacy of Planning: Planning is the first of the managerial functions. It precedes all other
management functions.
3. Pervasiveness of Planning: Planning is found at all levels of management. Top management
looks after strategic planning. Middle management is in charge of administrative planning.
Lower management has to concentrate on operational planning.
4. Efficiency, Economy and Accuracy: Efficiency of plan is measured by its contribution to the
objectives as economically as possible. Planning also focuses on accurate forecasts.
5. Co-ordination: Planning co-ordinates the what, who, how, where and why of planning.
Without co-ordination of all activities, we cannot have united efforts.
6. Limiting Factors: A planner must recognize the limiting factors (money, manpower etc) and
formulate plans in the light of these critical factors.
7. Flexibility: The process of planning should be adaptable to changing environmental
conditions.
8. Planning is an intellectual process: The quality of planning will vary according to the
quality of the mind of the manager.
Purpose of Planning (8 Marks)
As a managerial function planning is important due to the following reasons:1. To manage by objectives: All the activities of an organization are designed to achieve certain
specified objectives. However, planning makes the objectives more concrete by focusing
attention on them.

2. To offset uncertainty and change: Future is always full of uncertainties and changes.
Planning foresees the future and makes the necessary provisions for it.
3. To secure economy in operation: Planning involves, the selection of most profitable course
of action that would lead to the best result at the minimum costs.
4. To help in co-ordination: Co-ordination is, indeed, the essence of management, the planning
is the base of it. Without planning it is not possible to co-ordinate the different activities of an
organization.
5. To make control effective: The controlling function of management relates to the
comparison of the planned performance with the actual performance. In the absence of plans,
a management will have no standards for controlling other's performance.
6. To increase organizational effectiveness: Mere efficiency in the organization is not
important; it should also lead to productivity and effectiveness. Planning enables the manager
to measure the organizational effectiveness in the context of the stated objectives and take
further actions in this direction.
2. Explain the planning process
PLANNING PROCESS

The various steps involved in planning are given below

a) Perception of Opportunities: (2 Marks)

Although
preceding actual planning

and therefore not strictly a part

of the planning process, awareness of an opportunity is the real starting point for planning. It
includes a preliminary look at possible future opportunities and the ability to see them clearly
and completely, knowledge of where we stand in the light of our strengths and weaknesses, an
understanding of why we wish to solve uncertainties, and a vision of what we expect to gain.

Setting realistic objectives depends on this awareness. Planning requires realistic diagnosis of the
opportunity situation.
b) Establishing Objectives: (2 Marks)
The first step in planning itself is to establish objectives for the entire enterprise and then
for each subordinate unit. Objectives specifying the results expected indicate the end points of
what is to be done, where the primary emphasis is to be placed, and what is to be accomplished
by the network of strategies, policies, procedures, rules, budgets and programs.
Enterprise objectives should give direction to the nature of all major plans which, by
reflecting these objectives, define the objectives of major departments. Major department
objectives, in turn, control the objectives of subordinate departments, and so on down the line.
The objectives of lesser departments will be better framed, however, if subdivision managers
understand the overall enterprise objectives and the implied derivative goals and if they are given
an opportunity to contribute their ideas to them and to the setting of their own goals.
c) Considering the Planning Premises: (2 Marks)
Another logical step in planning is to establish, obtain agreement to utilize and disseminate
critical planning premises. These are forecast data of a factual nature, applicable basic policies,
and existing company plans. Premises, then, are planning assumptions in other words, the
expected environment of plans in operation. This step leads to one of the major principles of
planning.
The more individuals charged with planning understand and agree to utilize consistent planning
premises, the more coordinated enterprise planning will be.
Planning premises include far more than the usual basic forecasts of population, prices, costs,
production, markets, and similar matters.
Because the future environment of plans is so complex, it would not be profitable or realistic to
make assumptions about every detail of the future environment of a plan.
Since agreement to utilize a given set of premises is important to coordinate planning, it
becomes a major responsibility of managers, starting with those at the top, to make sure that
subordinate managers understand the premises upon which they are expected to plan. It is not
unusual for chief executives in well- managed companies to force top managers with differing
views, through group deliberation, to arrive at a set of major premises that all can accept.

d) Identification of alternatives: (2 Marks)

Once the organizational objectives have been clearly stated and the planning premises
have been developed, the manager should list as many available alternatives as possible for
reaching those objectives.
The focus of this step is to search for and examine alternative courses of action, especially those
not immediately apparent. There is seldom a plan for which reasonable alternatives do not exist,
and quite often an alternative that is not obvious proves to be the best.
The more common problem is not finding alternatives, but reducing the number of alternatives
so that the most promising may be analyzed. Even with mathematical techniques and the
computer, there is a limit to the number of alternatives that may be examined. It is therefore
usually necessary for the planner to reduce by preliminary examination the number of
alternatives to those promising the most fruitful possibilities or by mathematically eliminating,
through the process of approximation, the least promising ones.
e) Evaluation of alternatives (2 Marks)
Having sought out alternative courses and examined their strong and weak points, the
following step is to evaluate them by weighing the various factors in the light of premises and
goals. One course may appear to be the most profitable but require a large cash outlay and a slow
payback; another may be less profitable but involve less risk; still another may better suit the
company in longrange objectives.
If the only objective were to examine profits in a certain business immediately, if the future were
not uncertain, if cash position and capital availability were not worrisome, and if most factors
could be reduced to definite data, this evaluation should be relatively easy. But typical planning
is replete with uncertainties, problems of capital shortages, and intangible factors, and so
evaluation is usually very difficult, even with relatively simple problems. A company may wish
to enter a new product line primarily for purposes of prestige; the forecast of expected results
may show a clear financial loss, but the question is still open as to whether the loss is worth the
gain.
f) Choice of alternative plans (2 Marks)
An evaluation of alternatives must include an evaluation of the premises on which the

alternatives are based. A manager usually finds that some premises are unreasonable and can
therefore be excluded from further consideration. This elimination process helps the manager
determine which alternative would best accomplish organizational objectives.
g) Formulating of Supporting Plans (2 Marks)
After decisions are made and plans are set, the final step to give them meaning is to
numberize them by converting them to budgets. The overall budgets of an enterprise represent
the sum total of income and expenses with resultant profit or surplus and budgets of major
balance sheet items such as cash and capital expenditures. Each department or program of a
business or other enterprise can have its own budgets, usually of expenses and capital
expenditures, which tie into the overall budget.
If this process is done well, budgets become a means of adding together the various plans and
also important standards against which planning progress can be measured.
h) Establishing sequence of activities (2 Marks)
Once plans that furnish the organization with both long-range and short-range direction
have been developed, they must be implemented. Obviously, the organization can not directly
benefit from planning process until this step is performed.
3. What are the types of planning?
Types of Plans
In the process of planning, several plans are prepared which are known as components of
planning.

Plans can be broadly classified as

a) Strategic plans
b) Tactical plans
d)

c) Operational plans
Contingency plans
Operational plans lead to the achievement of tactical plans, which in turn lead to the attainment
of strategic plans. In addition to these three types of plans, managers should also develop a
contingency plan in case their original plans fail.
a) Strategic plans: ( 4 Marks)
A strategic plan is an outline of steps designed with the goals of the entire organization as a
whole in mind, rather than with the goals of specific divisions or departments. It is further
classified as
i) Mission:
. The mission is a statement that reflects the basic purpose and focus of the organization which
normally remain unchanged. The mission of the company is the answer of the question : why
does the organization exists?
Properly crafted mission statements serve as filters to separate what is important from what is
not, clearly state which markets will be served and how, and communicate a sense of intended
direction to the entire organization.
Mission of Ford: we are a global, diverse family with a proud inheritance, providing
exceptional products and services.
ii) Objectives or goals:
Both goal and objective can be defined as statements that reflect the end towards which the
organization is aiming to achieve. However, there are significant differences between the two. A
goal is an abstract and general umbrella statement, under which specific objectives can be
clustered. Objectives are statements that describein precise, measurable, and obtainable terms
which reflect the desired organizations outcomes.
iii) Strategies:
Strategy is the determination of the basic long term objectives of an organization and the
adoption of action and collection of action and allocation of resources necessary to achieve these
goals.
Strategic planning begins with an organization's mission. Strategic plans look ahead over the
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next two, three, five, or even more years to move the organization from where it currently is to
where it wants to be. Requiring multilevel involvement, these plans demand harmony among all
levels of management within the organization. Top-level management develops the directional
objectives for the entire organization, while lower levels of management develop compatible
objectives and plans to achieve them. Top management's strategic plan for the entire
organization becomes the framework and sets dimensions for the lower level planning.
b) Tactical plans: (4 Marks)
A tactical plan is concerned with what the lower level units within each division must do,
how they must do it, and who is in charge at each level. Tactics are the means needed to activate
a strategy and make it work.
Tactical plans are concerned with shorter time frames and narrower scopes than are strategic
plans. These plans usually span one year or less because they are considered short-term goals.
Long-term goals, on the other hand, can take several years or more to accomplish. Normally, it
is the middle manager's responsibility to take the broad strategic plan and identify specific
tactical actions.
c) Operational plans (4 Marks)
The specific results expected from departments, work groups, and individuals are the operational
goals. These goals are precise and measurable. Process 150 sales applications each week or
Publish 20 books this quarter are examples of operational goals.
An operational plan is one that a manager uses to accomplish his or her job responsibilities.
Supervisors, team leaders, and facilitators develop operational plans to support tactical plans
(see the next section). Operational plans can be a single-use plan or a standing plan.
i) Single-use plans apply to activities that do not recur or repeat. A one-time occurrence,
such as a special sales program, is a single-use plan because it deals with the who, what,
where, how, and how much of an activity.

Programme: Programme consists of an ordered list of events to be followed to execute a

project.

Budget: A budget predicts sources and amounts of income and how much they are
used for a specific project.
ii) Standing plans are usually made once and retain their value over a period of years while
undergoing periodic revisions and updates. The following are examples of ongoing plans:

Policy: A policy provides a broad guideline for managers to follow when dealing with
important areas of decision making. Policies are general statements that explain how a
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manager should attempt to handle routine management responsibilities. Typical human

resources policies, for example, address such matters as employee hiring, terminations,
performance appraisals, pay increases, and discipline.

Procedure: A procedure is a set of step-by-step directions that explains how activities or

tasks are to be carried out. Most organizations have procedures for purchasing supplies and
equipment, for example. This procedure usually begins with a supervisor completing a
purchasing requisition. The requisition is then sent to the next level of management for
approval. The approved requisition is forwarded to the purchasing department. Depending
on the amount of the request, the purchasing department may place an order, or they may
need to secure quotations and/or bids for several vendors before placing the order. By
defining the steps to be taken and the order in which they are to be done, procedures provide
a standardized way of responding to a repetitive problem.

Rule: A rule is an explicit statement that tells an employee what he or she can and cannot do.
Rules are do and don't statements put into place to promote the safety of employees and
the uniform treatment and behavior of employees. For example, rules about tardiness and
absenteeism permit supervisors to make discipline decisions rapidly and with a high degree
of fairness.
d) Contingency plans (4 Marks)
Intelligent and successful management depends upon a constant pursuit of adaptation,
flexibility, and mastery of changing conditions. Strong management requires a keeping all
options open approach at all times that's where contingency planning comes in.
Contingency planning involves identifying alternative courses of action that can be implemented
if and when the original plan proves inadequate because of changing circumstances.
Keep in mind that events beyond a manager's control may cause even the most carefully
prepared alternative future scenarios to go awry. Unexpected problems and events frequently
occur. When they do, managers may need to change their plans. Anticipating change during the
planning process is best in case things don't go as expected. Management can then develop
alternatives to the existing plan and ready them for use when and if circumstances make these
alternatives appropriate.