What are the essential Levels of planning?

Essential Levels of planning

There are three levels of planning, as discussed below:

1. Strategic Planning:

It is conducted by top management and is the process of determining the overall objectives of the organisation and the policies and strategies adopted to achieve those objectives. It is a long range planning and may cover a time period, say 5 or 10 year. It deals with the organizations capabilities, its strength and weakness.

2. Intermediate Planning:

This covers a shorter duration and is prepared by middle management. The middle management will have a look at the resources available and will determine the effective and efficient mix of human, financial and material factors.

3. Operational Planning:

This is the responsibility of the lower level management. There are very short range plans and cover a period of one week to one year. They are more specific and say how a specific job is completed in the best possible way; operational plans are divided into best functional areas such as production, marketing finance etc.