Week 4 Terms

Planning and strategy

  1. Planning
  2. S.M.A.R.T. goals
  3. Pert Chart
  4. Gantt Chart
  5. Strategic plans
  6. Vision and (or vs.) mission
  7. Tactical plans
  8. Management by objectives (MBO)
  9. Operational plans
  10. Standing plans
  11. Policy
  12. Procedure
  13. Rules and regulations
  14. Budgeting
  15. Decision making
  16. Satisficing
  17. Groupthink
  18. Devil's advocacy
  19. Nominal group technique
  20. Brainstorming/Electronic brainstorming

Planning

This line of research has focused on cognitive aspects of planning, such as how individuals recognize problems, formulate initial plans, refine their plans, and eventually implement those plans. From this perspective, planning is often defined as a mental simulation of future actions used to organize effort towards goal attainment (Mumford, Schultz & Osburn, 2002, Osburn & Mumford, 2006; e.g., Berger, Karol & Jordan, 1989; Simons & Galotti, 1992; Patalano & Seifert, 1997). (Caughron & Mumford, 2008).

Caughron, J. & Mumford, M. (2008). Project planning: The effects of using formal planning techniques on creative problem-solving. Creativity and Innovation Management 17 (3) pp 204-215. Retrieved on September 3, 2008 from http://www.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/cgi-bin/fulltext/121377404/HTMLSTART

S.M.A.R.T. goals

Effective goals are SMART—specific, measurable, aggressive, relevant, and time-bound. If financial yardsticks are the relevant metric for success, use them. But if time, speed, specifications, expectations, satisfaction, quality, new products, new services, trust-based relationships, or any other metric better describes success, use that metric and not revenues, expenses, or headcount as the basis for SMART outcome goals (Smith, 2000).

Smith, D. (2000). Better than plan: Managing beyond the budget. Leader to Leader 2000(15) pp33-39. Retrieved on September 3, 2008 from http://www.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ehost/pdf?vid=8&hid=101&sid=4ae26828-7390-479f-bd9c-61b2f41d4c0e%40sessionmgr102

Pert Chart

"A PERT chart is iconic, as is a map and pins used to help solve routing problems. Iconic graphic models may be quite different in concept from traditional mathematical models of the same system and, therefore, offer a new, different, and perhaps, creative look at OR problems." (Bell, 1985, p. 27)

Bell, P.C. (1985). Visual interactive modeling as an operations research technique. Interfaces. 15(4), 26-33. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from, http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=6688533&site=bsi-live

Gantt Chart

"Henry Laurence Gantt (1861-1919) was a mechanical engineer, management consultant, and industry advisor. Henry Laurence Gantt developed Gantt charts in the second decade of the 20th century. Gantt Charts were and are used as a visual tool to show scheduled and actual progress of projects. Henry Gantts contribution to the management process is honored today through the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal. The award established in 1929 is given for distinguished achievement in management and for service to the community [2]. In the traditional approach, we can distinguish the following five stages in the development of a project. • project initiation; • project planning; • project production; • project monitoring; and • project completion" (Kumar, 2005, p. 15)

Kumar, P. P. (2005) Effective use of gantt chart for managing large scale projects. Cost Engineering. 47(7), 14-21. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from, http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=17721066&site=bsi-live

Strategic plans

“Our strategic plan, developed over many years, is strong and resilient. We will continue to pursue it, focusing on our Society's purpose, promoting the advancement of our profession and fostering the professional well-being and development of our members.” (Thompson, 2008, p. 10)

Thompson, M. W., (2008). ASSE's continuing journey. Professional Safety. 53(6), 10-37. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=32478942&site=ehost-live

Vision & (or vs.) Mission

“The SP process begins with a concrete mission statement and a solid vision statement. The mission defines the organization—answering the ‘who, what, where’ questions. The vision is a measurable target in the future. Following these, more granular objectives are created, each supporting the mission and vision.” (Sagi, 2007, p. 41)

Sagi, J., (2007). Lessons from management: Using strategic planning concepts to develop a universal futuring model. Futures Research Quarterly 23(3), 39-45. Retrieved September 3, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=31709280&site=ehost-live

Tactical plans

“Scheduling is the process of developing and maintaining optimal tactical and operational plans (daily and weekly), with the objective of extracting maximum value (variable margin) from the envelope of available options. All of this must be done by taking into consideration the true constraints of the market, the manufacturing plants and logistics. Doing so provides a critical link between corporate planning and plant operations” (Price, 2007, p. IP6).

Price, E. (2007). Effective process planning and scheduling. Control Engineering, 54(11), IP1-IP8. Retrieved September 4, 2008 from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27634069&site=ehost-live

Management by objectives (MBO)

“Management by objectives (MBO) goes back to 1954 when Peter Drucker proclaimed it as the management system of the future. It was credited with the flourishing of Western business in the 1950s and 1960s and seems common sense.
• The tasks to be carried out are described.
• They are associated with expected outcomes.
• These are quantified, and time constraints and conditions are specified.
• The people entrusted with carrying out the tasks are accountable for achieving these defined, measurable objectives.
The system is based on a hierarchical structure where the objectives and sub-objectives and sub-sub-objectives are passed ‘down’ in a cascade, so that each employee is governed through a set of performance standards or work quotas” Passl, 1993, p. 135).

Passl, W. (1993). Can management by objectives and total quality management be reconciled? Total Quality Management, 4(2) 135-141. Retrieved September 4, 2008 from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9707031539&site=ehost-live

Operational plans

Standing plans

Policy

"The achievement of a BPM culture depends very much on the establishment of total alignment to corporate goals and having every employee’s efforts focused on adding value to the end customer. This is acknowledged by many authors (Olian and Rynes, 1991) and all quality gurus. Deming (1986), for instance, through the first of his 14 points, “strive for consistency of purpose”, stresses the need to link quality efforts within an organization to a larger sense of corporate purpose. The objectives of an organization are best communicated to all employees through a formal process of policy and strategy development and deployment. In fact many strategies fail to deliver because what is planned and what is implemented are not the same (Zairi, 1995; Easton, 1993)." (Zairi, 1997, p. 67)

Zairi, M. (1997). Business process management: A boundaryless approach to modern competitiveness. Business process management journal 3(1), 64-80. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14637159710161585

Procedure

“…change is facilitated by a formal design that exists to validate informal behavior (Coleman, 1999, p. 38). Procedures and the procedural processes may therefore be interpreted as the means to establishing a formal design, without it taking on the methodology of, or interpreted as, a functionalist paradigm.” (Brodbeeck, 2002, p. 381)

Brodbeck, P. (2002). Complexity theory and organization procedure design. Business Process Management Journal 8(4), 377 - 402. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14637150210435026

Rules and regulations

Budgeting

Decision making

“Many variables are accounted for and the authors are innovative in integrating previous types of decision-making approaches with a more fluid, and therefore realistic model that can be applied across a wide range of contexts and decisions.” (Chapman, Chris, Ward & Stephen, 2002, p. 512)

Chapman, Chris, Ward & Stephen. (2002) Managing project risk and uncertainty: A constructively simple approach to decision making, Chichester, UK, John Wiley & Sons, p. 512. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from

http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/35767/

Satisficing

“Satisficing, as defined by Herbert Simon (1955), may be applied to library and information science as an information competency whereby individuals assess how much information is good enough to satisfy their information need. Scholars from different fields have drawn on the satisficing concept to reflect on the ‘contrast between choosing what is satisfactory and choosing what is best.’ ” (Prabha, Connaway, Olszewski & Jenkins, 2007, p. 75)
C., Connaway, L., Olszewski L., & Jenkins, L. (2007). What is enough? satisficing information needs. Journal of Documentation 63(1), 74-89. Retrieved September 4, 2008, from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=/published/emeraldfulltextarticle/pdf/2780630104.pdf

Groupthink

“The originators of these ideas are a loose school of like-minded academics, mostly Americans and either social psychologists or behavioural economists. Their basic insight is that human beings are fallible: lazy, stupid, greedy and weak; loss-averse, stubborn, and prone to inertia and conformism. All that makes them poor decision-makers, often incapable of their own happiness. But, these writers argue, people can be prompted to make better decisions, for example via information campaigns and the promotion of positive "social norms". The underlying political philosophy is "libertarian paternalism", a hybrid creed that holds that government can and should sway citizens' behaviour, so long as it stops short of prohibition or compulsion: by steering choices rather than constraining them.”(Thaler, 2008, p.1)
Thaler, R., (2008), Wink, wink. Economist 387(8590), p. 1. Retreived September 4, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=33325406&site=ehost-live

Devil's advocacy

“Formal devil's advocacy was first used by the Catholic Church in the 1600s as part of the process of canonizing saints. The Devil's Advocate was responsible for arguing the case against canonization to prevent the Church from making an error in this critically important decision. Devil's advocacy has been specifically recommended as an antidote against groupthink, and there are sound reasons to suppose that it also can be employed with good effect against some of the other problem areas in organizational decision making highlighted in earlier sections of this article.”(Metzger & Schwenk, 1990, p. 330)
Metzger, M. & Schwenk, C. (1990). Decision making models, devils advocacy, and the control of corporate crime. American Business Law Journal 28(3), p.323-373. Retreives on September 4, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=9705310409&site=ehost-live

Nominal Group Technique

“By using the ‘‘snowball’’ nominal technique, allowed the researchers for this project to both organize observations into themes as well as allow participants to hierarchically rank these observations (after much group discussion) in terms of importance.” (Graber & Graber, 2002, p. 116)

Graber, J. & Graber, S. (2002). Using focus and nominal group techniques for a better understanding of the transit disadvantaged needs. Transportation Planning & Technology 25(2), 103-120. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=10955826&site=ehost-live

Brainstorming

“The only way an idea can become profitable is by taking it from the individual mind to the brainstorming session and on to the office or lobby. The creative funnel process demonstrates how and when to turn constraints into idea generation to bring true gems into fruition.” (Sweeney, 2008, p. 8)

Sweeney, J. (2008). Cultivate staff creativity. Point for Credit Union Research & Advice, 8. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=31721424&site=ehost-live

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