Planning

Dr. Shubhada Ponkshe

Planning
 Definition Cont--
NURSE MANAGER: person who is
responsible for translating the
administration's vision into operating
plans and acting in the middle and first-
line levels of hierarchy.
 MEANING OF PLANNING
• Planning is deciding in advance what should be
done. It is future oriented. Planning is a
technical managerial function that enables
organizations to deal with the present and
anticipate the future. It is the first and
fundamental function of management because
all other management functions are dependent
on it.

Cont---
 DEFINITIONS OF PLANNING
• According to Koontz and O’Donnell “Planning is
deciding in advance
• What to do? (Aim)
• How to do? (Practice)
• When to do? (Time)
• Who is to do? (Workers)
• It bridges the gap from where we are to where we
want to go”.
 DEFINITIONS OF PLANNING CONT---
• Planning is deciding the best alternative among
others to perform different managerial operations
in order to achieve the predetermined goal - Henry
Fayol.
• Planning is a mental predisposition to do things in
orderly way, to think before acting and to act in the
light of facts rather than guess - Urwick.
 NATURE OF PLANNING
(BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OR FEATURES OF PLANNING)
1. Planning is the primary function of management
2. It is goal-oriented
3. It is all-pervasive
4. It is an intellectual activity
5. It is future oriented
6. It requires an integrated approach
7. It is a continuous process
8. It involves decision making
Cont---
• It is all-pervasive: By this we mean that planning
is done by everyone at every level of
management, namely top, middle and lower
levels.
• It is an intellectual activity : Planning is a mental
activity. It involves application of mind and
intelligence to attain, in a systematic manner, the
organisational objective.

Cont---
• It is future –oriented :Planning is required to
attain the future goals of an organisation.
However, past happenings provide the basis for
plans. As future is uncertain, a plan must make
suitable provisions to meet any crisis.
• It requires an integrated approach:
• There must be a link between the plans of
different departments. The production plan of a
business must be in tune with its financial plan.
The marketing plan, likewise must be in tune
with the production plan and vice versa.
Cont---
• It is a continuous process : It means that a stage
will never come when the need for planning will
not be felt at all. Planning is required as long as
we live in this world. As far as business is
concerned, planning is needed as long as there
are business activities.
• It involves decision making : Planning involves
making choice out of certain alternative courses
i.e., decision-making. When there is only one
way of doing something, there is no need for
planning at all.
Cont---
 The characteristics of a good plan Cont---
1. Plan should be-based on a clearly defined objectives.
Objectives outline the intentions that the planers
along with members of the organizations, hope to
achieve.
2. Therefore, objectives need to be communicated to all
the members of the nursing staff and others.
3. Plan should be simple, unambiguous, and free from
complexities which may lead to wastage of
resources.
4. A simple plan leads to success and achievement of
laid down objectives.
 The characteristics of a good plan
Cont---
5. Plan should be based on the process of
investigation for activities of the various nursing
members so as to set standards to assess
quantity and quality of performance.
6. Plan should be flexible to adapt to different
emergencies and changing situations.
7. Plan should be balanced so that it can be
operated effectively within the total purpose of
the health agency.
8. Plan should be realistic, based on verifiable facts.
Purpose and Importance of Planning
1. Provides framework for giving directions to the
different functions within the organization thus
establishes coordinated efforts.
2. Reduces the impact of change.
3. Minimizes risk of uncertainty.
4. Leads to effectiveness & efficiency.
5. Help to set standards & target.

Cont---
Purpose and Importance of Planning

6. Helps to chalk out the sequence of steps in the

course of action

7. Avoids overlapping of activities.

8. Ensures order and control planning is

Necessary for organizing, staffing, directing,

coordinating and controlling.

 Types of planning
• The most popular way to describe planning is
by their:
1) Breadth (strategic. versus operation)
2) Time (short term versus long term)
3) Specificity (directional specific)
4) Frequency of use (single use versus standing)

Cont---
 Categories in health care Planning

1. Strategic planning
2. Operational planning
• These planning classifications are not
independent.
• Strategic plans are long term, directional and
single use.
• Operational plans are short term, specific and
standing.
Cont---
 Strategic planning
• Strategic planning is not based on facility
oriented services but on market oriented i.e., in
response to the needs of the community.
Thereby, the hospital is economically
survivable, and the preparation leads to a short
range (2-3 years) and long range (5-6 years)
strategy.
• Therefore, it is important to involve experts in
the field of health, nursing, economics,
administrator as consultant.
Cont---
 Strategic planning Cont---

• The process involves to find answers as to

1. “What services are needed?".
2. "Who will purchase them?",
3. Where would the nursing services like to be
in ten years?
4. How many departments?
5. What type of clients will be there?

Cont---
Activities involved in Strategic Planning
• Detail analysis of strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats (SWOT) of organization
both internal and external environment.

• SWOT
1. Strength: Any activities the organization does
well or any unique resource it has.
2. Weakness: Activities the organization does not
do well or resources it needs but does not
possess.
Cont---
Activities involved in Strategic Planning
3. Opportunities: Positive trends in external
environmental factors.
4. Threats: Negative trends in external
environmental factors.
• Developing philosophy and formulation of policies
and objectives on the basis of analysis of the
organization.
• Allocation of resources, assign responsibilities.
• Evaluation of activities to increase efficiency.
• Providing proper direction to avoid duplication of
services.
 Operational planning
• Operational planning is done at the lower organizational
level generally, focused on
programme formulation and implementation. It is
concerned with implementing strategic planning in all
its components at the operational level.
• It specifies the details of how the over all goals are to be
achieved.
• Usually the operational planning is short term planning
and is under taken by middle or supervisory level
personnel.
• Nurse managers are more likely to be involved in the
operational or short range planning. Cont---
 Operational planning focuses on
• Programme formulation and implementation.
• Planning for a few months to a financial year.
• Planning for details budgeting, provision for
short range goals which are to be achieved
• within given period.
• Extensional aspect of long range plan.
• In nursing situation, budgeting time and other
provision for providing nursing care according to
the events and situations.
Components of Planning
 Steps to planning
• Analysis of the situation
• Identifying priority problem
• Formulating objectives
• Setting goals
• Reviewing limitations and constraints
• Laying down operational policy and system
• Writing down the plan.
 Planning in Nursing services
• The responsibility of overall planning lies with
the top-level authority i.e., the hospital
management board, board of trustees,
committee of management, or a government
department. In the plan the nursing service
department is delegated to the director of
nursing service, or chief of public health
nursing (in a community health set-up).
 PLANNING
FIRST ELEMENT OF
NURSING ADMINISTRATION

• Planning in nursing means to decide in

advance what is to be done. It charts a course
of actions for the future. It is an intellectual
process and it aims to achieve a coordinated
and consistent set of operations aimed at
desired objectives.
 Steps of planning nursing services
• Formal planning is a systematic process. It consists of five
guidelines. These guidelines provide a general pattern of
rational planning.
1. Situation audit or environmental assessment : It analyzes the
Past, current and future forces that affect the organization.
Expectation of outside interests such as government officials,
insurance companies and consumers are sought.
 Expectations of inside interests such as nurse, doctors,
administrators and other staffs are collected.
 Environment, demographic, resources, legal, technological
factors should also be considered.
 Steps of planning nursing services
2. Establish Objectives: Every plan has the primary
purpose of helping the organization succeed through
effective management. Success is defined as achieving
organizational objectives. These are performance
targets, the end results that managers seek to achieve.
3. Involve management and staff: Involving a greater
number of managers will result in better plans and
more wide spread acceptance of objectives. Delegates
the authority and responsibility in writing to members
of her staff. Cont---
4. Develop alternatives : A successful planning process
will generate several options for manages to
consider. These options are alternative courses of
action that can achieve the same result.

5. Communicates plan: Objectives are written and

plans are documented to give employees direction.
Managers communicate plans into two categories:
Standing use plans and Single use plans.
 Form of Standing use plans

• Policies
• Procedures
• Rules
 Policies
A standing plan that furnishes broad guidelines for
channeling management thinking toward taking
action consistent with reaching organizational
objectives. It provides guidelines for behavior.
Policies are also instruments of delegation that
alert subordinates to their obligations. Effective
policy statements are clear, understandable,
stable overtime, and communicated to everyone
involved.
 Procedures
•Procedures are standing plan that outlines a series of
related actions that must be taken to accomplish a
particular task. It is an explicit set of actions, often
sequential in nature, required to achieve a well
defined result. Formal procedures provide specific
and detailed instructions for the execution of plans.
Good procedures provide a sequence of actions that
once completed fulfill specific objectives, reinforce
policies and help employees achieve results efficiently
and safely.
 Rule
• Rule is a standing plan that designates specific
requires action. It indicates what an organization
member should or should not do and allows as
no room for interpretation. It is a statement that
tends to restrict actions or prescribe specific
activities with no discretion. Rules usually have a
single purpose and are written to guarantee a
particular way of behaving in a particular way.
 SINGLE USE PLANS
• Single use plans-are those that are used once
to achieve unique objectives or objectives that
are seldom repeated. They are communicated
through:
• Programs
• Budget
• Schedule
 PROGRAMS

• Programs is a single use plan designed to

carry out a special project within an
organization. It comprises multiple activities
orchestrated to achieve one important
objective.
 BUDGET
Budget is a single use financial plan that covers a
specified length of time. It describes in numerical
terms resources allocated to organizational
activities. By budgeting, managers identify
resources such as money, material and human
resource. It also communicates performance
expectations.
 SCHEDULE
• Schedule is a commitment of
resources and labor to tasks with
specific time frames.
 APPROACHES TO PLANNING
1.Centralized top down planning- is the traditional
approach to planning in which a centralized group of
executives or staff assumes the primary planning
responsibility.
2.Bottom-up planning- is an approach that delegates
planning authority to division and department
managers, who are expected to formulate plans
under the general strategic umbrella of
organizational objectives.

Cont---
3. Team planning- is a participative approach
to planning where by planning teams
comprising managers and staff specialties
initiate plans and formulate organizational
objectives.
 Importance of planning (Merits or
advantages of planning)
1. It focuses on objective: Once the objective of the
business has been fixed, the next step is to prepare
a plan for its effective accomplishment. The
enterprise objective cannot be realized overnight. It
has to be achieved gradually over a certain period.
2. It helps to avoid wastage of resources: Planning
makes it possible to make optimum use of the
available resources, namely, time, money, materials
and machines. This is possible as the employees and
the executives know beforehand what they have to
do.
Cont---
3. It ensures efficiency as well as effectiveness
Efficiency is ensured by doing right things and
effectiveness is achieved by doing things right.
Planning helps to do not only right things but also
things right. Each department knows what it is
supposed to do well in advance as a result of
planning.
4. It reduces risk and uncertainty: Planning is for
future use and future is uncertain. While planning,
future uncertainties are anticipated and adequate
provisions are made to meet or overcome the same.

Cont---
5. It provides for co-ordination: The work done in any organisation
is a team-work. Different departments participate in the process of
goal attainment. Planning makes the responsibilities of each
individual and department very clear. Thus, planning by explaining
the responsibilities of each individual and department provides
scope for co-operation and co-ordination.
6. It facilitates control: If planning is the first function of
management, Control is the last function. Planning without control
is useless and control without planning is meaningless. Control
helps the enterprise to know whether the plan has been
successfully implemented and the objective has been achieved.
7. Planning also provides scope for decentralisation : Dispersal of
authority throughout the organisation is what is known as
decentralisation. Once the basic and derivative plans of the
enterprise have been prepared, the next step is to explain the same
to all the subordinates who are going to perform the various tasks.
 Limitations of planning (Drawbacks or
Demerits of Planning)
1.Un certain Nature: The element of uncertainty
cannot be totally eliminated in planning. Plans are
meant for future use but future happenings cannot
be accurately foreseen. e.g. A sudden change in the
policy of the Government, loss due to natural
calamities like earthquake, floods, etc., can destroy
even carefully prepared plans.
2. Expensive: Preparation and implementation of any
plan is expensive not only in terms of time but also in
terms of efforts and money required. Cont---
3. Rigidity : It is always necessary to strictly adhere to the plan
in so far as the daily work routine in an enterprise is
concerned. Lack of flexibility in plans leads to monotony and
boredom.
4. Loss of initiative: The staff in an enterprise shall perform
their duties in the way they are expected to do in the plans. As
a result, they are reduced to machines. There is no scope for
the display of skills by individuals and this leads to loss of
initiative.
5.Ignorance of subordinates’ interests:
Plans are prepared to attain the organisational goal in the
most effective manner. In doing so, often, the interests,
preferences, capabilities and attitudes of the employees are
ignored. As a result, the subordinates do not give their whole
hearted support to the implementation of the plans. Cont---
• Complacent attitude: There is always a
feeling that once the plan is prepared, the
target of the enterprise can easily be attained.
The success of every plan depends much on
the effectiveness with which it is
implemented. A plan is only a means to an
end and not an end itself.
• THANK YOU