u Skill Builder: Role Play Exercise

should be no attempt to put the subordinate down. Periodic reviews, proper counselling and allowing subordinates to commit mistakes and learn from the same would help a subordinate to learn slowly and steadily. u Politics: Be sensitive to the policies of implementing MBO. MBO redistributes power, and not all managers welcome this. If MBO is seen as a significant change, it will generate hostile reaction in the form of jokes, infighting and overt conflict. MBO can also alter the status of an organization, influence decisions, affect budgets and promote the creation of coalitions to fight with it. MBO, as Odiorne pointed out, has failed in many organizations because managers quite often ignored these political considerations in the process of implementation.

Chapter Summary

u Planning is all about choosing a goal and developing a strategy to achieve that goal. u Planning is goal oriented, all pervasive, continuous, reasonably flexible and forward looking. u The process of planning involves a series of inter-connected steps. u Planning is an important activity of every manager. Only through planning managers are able to put things on track and decide appropriately. u Planning is often attacked on the ground that it stifles freedom and encourages rigidity. It is also a very time consuming and costly exercise. u Various types of plans—including tactical, strategic and operational--- are extensively put to use in every organisation. u Effective planning demands wide participation from key stakeholders and blessings from the top management. u Objectives are the results that a firm expects to achieve in the long run.

Objectives are generally structured in a hierarchy of importance. Objectives can be set following a top down or bottom up approach. u Setting objectives requires lot of careful planning and detailed study of factors that have a bearing on organisational functioning. u MBO is the modern way of setting goals, quantifying everything and demanding accountability from those implementing the process.

Test Questions

1. Define planning. What is the necessity of planning in modern, complex organisations? 2. ‘Future is a moving target. It may not be possible to anticipate future changes accurately and provide for them in plans’. Discuss.