9.5 Contemporary Planning Techniques

Today's managers face the challenge of planning in an environment that is both dynamic and complex.

Two planning techniques that are appropriate for this type of environment are:

Project Management. Project management is a task of getting a projec's activities done on time, within budget, and according to specifications. The project planning process includes:

Defining the project's goals;

Identifying all activities in the project and the resources needed to do them;

Establishing sequences of completion needs;

Estimating time estimates for each activity;

Determine project completion date;

Comparing project schedule to the goals and make any adjustments if necessary; and

Determine additional resource requirements.

9.5 Contemporary Planning Techniques

Scenario Planning

A scenario is a consistent view of what the future is likely to be.

Developing scenarios can also be described as contingency planning; that is if this is what happens, then these are the actions we need to take.

The process of doing scenarios causes executives to rethink and clarify the essence of the business environment in ways they almost certainly have never done before.

However, it must be understood that although scenario planning is useful in anticipating events that can be anticipated, it is difficult to forecast random events.