• Home
• Module overview
• 1. The challenge of management
  • Introduction
  • 1.1 Defining management
    • 1.1.1 The art of getting things done through people
    • 1.1.2 Defining management by its functions
    • 1.1.3 Is management a profession?
  • 1.2 Management knowledge , skills and performance
    • 1.2.1 Types of managers
    • 1.2.2 Effectiveness and efficiency
    • 1.2.3 Managing the customer within
  • 1.3 The evolution of management thought
  • Conclusion

• 2. Understanding external environments

  • Introduction
  • 2.1 Putting the e xternal environment into focus
    • 2.1.1 Classifying external elements
    • 2.1.2 The changing environment
    • 2.1.3 The international dimension
  • 2.2 Relating the o rganisation to its environment
    • 2.2.1 So many issues: Which should you focus on?
    • 2.2.2 How do you acquire the relevant information?
    • 2.2.3 Clarifying the relationship between the internal and external environments
  • Conclusion

• 3. Social responsibility and ethics in management

  • Introduction
  • 3.1 Business is not value neutral: Social responsibility, obligation and responsiveness
  • 3.2 Focussing on ethics
    • 3.2.1 Why business ethics now?
    • 3.2.2 Ethical quandaries
    • 3.2.3 Approaches to ethical dilemmas
    • 3.2.4 Defining your ethics
  • Conclusion

• 4. Managerial decision making

  • Introduction
  • 4.1 Decision making and problem solving
  • 4.2 The nature of decision making as part of management
    • 4.2.1 Programmed and non-programmed decisions
    • 4.2.2 Certainty, risk and uncertainty
    • 4.2.3 Urgent vs important decisions
  • 4.3 Problem solving: making the most of opportunities
    • 4.3.1 Looking further at problem solving
    • 4.3.2 The effective decision making process
    • 4.3.3 Improving managerial problem solving: overcoming barriers
    • 4.3.4 Thinking 'outside the box' and creativity
  • 4.4 Interrelated problems
  • Conclusion

• 5. Managing strategically

  • Introduction
  • 5.1 Planning ahead
  • 5.2 Strategic management
    • 5.2.1 Some definitions
    • 5.2.2 The process of strategic management
  • Conclusion

• 6. Organisational design and structure

  • Introduction
  • 6.1 The terminology of organisational design
  • 6.2 Strategic organisational design and structure
    • 6.2.1 Types of organisational structure
    • 6.2.2 Strategic organisational design
  • 6.3 Teamwork
    • 6.3.1 The success of teamwork
  • Conclusion

• 7. Organisational culture and workforce diversity

  • Introduction
  • 7.1 Defining organisational or corporate culture
    • 7.1.1 Culture defined through its response to change
    • 7.1.2 Culture defined through the influence of the external environment
  • 7.2 Strong and weak cultures
  • 7.3 The functions of culture
  • 7.4 Creating and sustaining culture
  • 7.5 Types of culture
    • 7.5.1 Dominant culture
    • 7.5.2 Subculture
    • 7.5.3 Core values
  • 7.6 Changing culture
  • 7.7 Cultural diversity in the maritime industry
  • Conclusion

• 8. Change management

  • Introduction
  • 8.1 Dealing with change and the changing nature of change
    • 8.1.1 In what areas of the organisation can managers expect change?
    • 8.1.2 Reacting to change
  • 8.2 Key issues accelerating change
    • 8.2.1 External forces
    • 8.2.2 Internal forces
  • 8.3 Managing change
    • 8.3.1 Reactions to change
    • 8.3.2 Why employees resist change
    • 8.3.3 Emotions accompanying change
    • 8.3.4 Overcoming resistance
    • 8.3.5 Leadership and successful change
  • Conclusion

• 9. Motivating for performance

  • Introduction
  • 9.1 The nature of motivation
  • 9.2 Theories of motivation
    • 9.2.1 Do rewards really work? needs theories
    • 9.2.2 Are substantive rewards the only motivator? process theories
    • 9.2.3 Learning behaviour reinforcement theory
    • 9.2.4 Social learning theory
    • 9.2.5 Putting it all together systems theory
  • 9.3 The power of positive thinking
  • 9.4 Motivation: The implications for managers
  • Conclusion

• 10. Leadership

  • Introduction
  • 10.1 The nature of leadership
    • 10.1.1 Thinking about 'leaders' and 'leadership'
    • 10.1.2 Theories of leadership
    • 10.1.3 Refining our definition of leadership
  • 10.2 Perspectives on leadership
    • 10.2.1 Manager, leader, or both?
  • Conclusion

• 11. Teamwork

  • Introduction
  • 11.1 Work groups and group dynamics
    • 11.1.1 Work groups, work teams, taskforces, self-managing teams and team building
    • 11.1.2 High-performance teams
  • 11.2 Managing meetings and committees
  • 11.3 Group decision making
    • 11.3.1 Some advantages and disadvantages
    • 11.3.2 So, do groups make better decisions than individuals?
  • Conclusion

• 12. Managerial evaluation and control

  • Introduction
  • 12.1 Evaluation and control as a management process
    • 12.1.1 Why evaluate and control performance?
    • 12.1.2 Getting and using necessary information
  • 12.2 Levels of control
  • 12.3 Steps in the control process
  • 12.4 Assessing control systems
  • 12.5 Back to ethics
  • 12.6 Quality control systems
  • Conclusion

5.1 Planning ahead

Plan!

You have a task or project to do. You just start doing it.
Then you run out of resources or time.

How often has the above scenario happened to you, a colleague or a team of which you were a member?

This can happen to people who do not plan. Planning is required in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness whether you work as part of a small business or a large one, whether you are in charge of your own work, a team, a department or an entire organisation. For example, planning is required to manage a ship effectively: the seafarer has a role in forecasting and controlling both voyage costs and operating costs.

Think about the headlines below. What do they have in common?

• Fearing slower demand for cigarettes, tobacco companies move into new business.
• Japan 's shortage of software engineers could be Australia 's big opportunity .

Both headlines give some indication of the strategy employed by an organisation or a country in an attempt to ensure success in a challenging and changing environment.

They reflect the many reasons that organisations undertake strategic management activity. This chapter provides a broad overview of strategic management and planning. We examine the role of strategy and the reasons why companies benefit from strategic management. The strategic management process is introduced and serves as an outline for the remainder of the chapter. The chapter illustrates how organisations use strategy to adapt to a continually changing environment.

Consider the following from Peter Drucker: I can do nothing about yesterday, almost nothing about today but at least a little more about tomorrow, more about next week...and plenty about next year.

Drucker is saying that as a manager you need to think ahead - to see around corners. You need to plan what tasks have to be completed and the resources required because management depends upon the efforts of many different people. As a manager you have to be clear in your own mind about what has to be done so that you can set priorities, pass on directions and delegate tasks. Planning may even assist a manager to crystallise in his or her own mind what is required. Planning not only provides directions but also guidelines for decision making. Making choices and setting priorities is much easier when you know where you are going.

The renowned management writer Mintzberg noted that craftsmen have to train themselves to see, to pick up things other people miss . The same holds true for managers of strategy. In the first chapter we talked about the 'new manager' who is change-ready and able to handle reform. We also considered the external environment and the influences that impact on your organisation. It is those with the peripheral vision who are best able to detect and take advantage of events as they unfold. Good managers are those who have the ability to see and grasp the opportunities and to make the most of them.

As you will see later in this chapter, planning happens at different and all levels in an organisation. When managers plan they attempt to establish what is to be done as well as how it is to be done. You will no doubt remember our discussion in the first chapter on effectiveness and efficiency? Planning assists to cope with uncertainty, allowing a manager to look ahead, anticipate change, consider the impacts of the change and take appropriate actions.

Planning is one of the four functions of management that we mentioned in the first chapter. Planning is considered 'result-orientated' decision making. Good mangers plan for stability to ensure the continuation of existing success. They also plan for adaptability to ensure successful response to and anticipation of changes in a dynamic environment.

Planning involves defining the organisation's objectives and goals and establishing strategies for achieving the goals and developing a complex hierarchy of plans to integrate activities. The planning discussed in this chapter is of a formal nature - the mission, goals and objectives written down and shared with others in the organisation. All good managers engage in planning, but often it is of the informal nature. For example, many managers engage in 'self-management' through the use of tools such as diaries, wall planners, daily 'to do' lists and other time management techniques.

Planning is a part of the process of strategic management.

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