Important Principles of Planning in an organisation

(1) Principles of commitment:

Every plan includes the commitment of resources. At the same time its fulfillment involves time. So if a plan is to be successful, resources must be committed for the period which is necessary for its fruition.

According to Koontz, O’Donnell and Weihrich, “commitment principle is that logical planning encompasses a period a time in the future necessary to foresee, through a series of actions, the fulfillment of commitments involved in a decision today.

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Thus if it is planned to extend a factory building and if it takes six months to construct it, the company must be prepared not to get any benefit out of its investment on this head for a period of at least six months”.

(2) Principle of the Limiting Factor:

Planning is choosing the best course from among a number of alternative courses of action. The key to such choice lies in the limiting factor which means the resource which is scarce or limited in supply.

According to Ralph C. Davis, “It is some factor, force or effect in the situation that limits the organization’s ability to achieve the particular objective. Therefore, in deciding about a plan the planner should concentrate most on the limiting factor. Giving too much importance to factors which are not so important is a common mistake in planning”.

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(3) Principle of Navigational Change:

Flexibility must be built into the plan. Thus if a firm makes a plan for the coming ten years, it should reconsider or review it six- monthly or yearly to see if any new development has taken place which requires the plan to be modified.

This is called the Principle of Navigational Change. Like a sailing vessel the firm has to ‘tack’ i.e. shift back and forth in order to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves in the short period, at the same time getting closer to its ultimate goal.

(4) Principle of Commensurate Effort:

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It states that the effort be commensurate with results desired.

(5) Principles of Reflective Thinking:

The term ‘reflective thinking’ means problem- solving thought. It is the mental process by which past experiences, either mental or physical, are combined with facts concerning the present situation provide solutions for present or future problems. This principle suggests that intelligence is the basic requirement for any planning.