What Is Activity-Based Planning?

In management, planning has two meanings. One is planning, which refers to the analysis of the organization's external environment and internal conditions, and proposes organizational goals to be achieved in a certain period of time in the future and a way to achieve them. The second is the planning form, which refers to the management documents of the organization expressed in the form of words and indicators, as well as different departments and members within the organization, regarding the direction, content and mode of action in a certain period in the future.

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There are many types of plans and they can be classified according to different criteria. The main classification criteria are: the importance of plans, time boundaries, clarity and abstraction. But based on these

1. Targeted. The plan is based on party and state policies,

1. Planning works to achieve organizational goals.

2. Planning is the bridge of management activities and the basis of management activities such as organization, leadership and control.

3. The planning work is universal and orderly.

4. Plan for efficiency. ^[2]

1. Article style, that is, the plan is written into articles according to the guiding ideology, goals and tasks, measures and steps. This form is highly descriptive and general, and is often used for overall work plans.

2. Table format, that is, the entire plan is expressed in the form of a table, which is often used for work plans that have a short time and a single content or more quantitative indicators.

3. Timeline type, that is, the entire plan is listed according to the main timeline at one time, and the content is compiled in the order of implementation.

The methods of planning in practice are mainly

There are certain procedures or steps to follow for any planned work. Although the small plan is relatively simple and the large plan is more complicated, the management staff's work steps are similar when preparing the plan, including the following in turn:

1. Recognize opportunities

Recognize opportunities before actual planning begins. Strictly speaking, it is not a part of planning, but it is a real planning effort.

In management practice, planning is the premise and foundation of other management functions, and it also penetrates into other management functions. Lenin pointed out: "Any plan is a standard, a criterion, a lighthouse, a road sign." It is the central link of the management process Therefore, plans have a particularly important position and role in management activities.

Plan is the program of organization survival and development

We are in an era of economic, political, technological, and social change and development. In this era, change and development have brought both opportunities and risks to people, especially in the competition for markets, resources, and spheres of influence. If managers can identify opportunities and take advantage of them while minimizing risk, that is, building a convenient and stable bridge on the road to the goal, then the organization can be invincible. In the vertical and horizontal choice of opportunities and risks, we get survival and development. If you don't plan well or don't plan at all, you will have disastrous consequences.

Planning is a prerequisite for organizational coordination

The organization of all walks of life in modern society and the various components within them are becoming more and more fine-grained, the process is becoming more and more complex, and the coordination relationship is becoming stricter. To organize these complicated organisms scientifically so that the activities of all links and departments can be connected in time, space, and quantity, both around the overall goal and acting in concert and coordinating with each other, a rigorous plan is required. If there is no plan for organization, coordination, and control in management, it is as unimaginable as if the automobile assembly plant had no process design in advance.

Plans are the rules that direct implementation

The essence of the plan is to determine the goals and specify the ways and means to achieve them. Therefore, how to advance step by step towards the set goals and finally achieve the organizational goals, the plan is undoubtedly the criterion for all behaviors of people in management activities. It guides people in different spaces, at different times, and in different positions, around a general goal, in an orderly way to achieve their respective goals. If the behavior is not planned and guided, the person being managed will inevitably behave as a blind move without purpose, and the manager will behave as if the decision is changed day and night, as he pleases and contradicts himself. The result must be a chaos in the organizational order. In modern society, it can be said that almost every cause, every organization, and even everyone's activities cannot have a blueprint.

Plan is the basis for controlling activities

Planning is not only a prerequisite and criterion for organization, command, and coordination, but also closely linked to management control activities. The plan identifies data, scales, and standards for various complex management activities. It not only points the direction for control, but also provides a basis for control activities. Experience tells us that unplanned activities cannot be controlled, and it does not matter. This is because control itself aligns management activities with objectives by correcting deviations from the plan.