Planning and decision-making are the most important managerial functions, and there are many relations between them. Planning is thinking of doing. Decision-making is a part of planning. Planning is the process of selecting a future course of action, where Decision-making means selecting a course of action.
Planning and decision-making, organizing, leading and controlling are all interrelated. Planning and decision making is the most important step of all managerial functions.
There are many relationships between decision-making and planning.
Definition of Planning
Planning managerial functions where managers are required to establish goals and state the ways and means by which these goals are to be attained.
Therefore planning is taken as the foundation for future activities. Or in simple terms; planning is deciding in advance what is to be done. Planning is thinking of doing.
Management every time has to look for planning long-range and short-range future direction by estimating and evaluating the future behavior of the relevant environment and by determining the enterprise’s own desired role.
Plans have two basic components: goals and action statements. Goals represent an end state the targets and results that managers hope to achieve.
Action statements represent how an organization goes ahead to attain its goals. Planning is a deliberate and conscious work using which managers determine a future course of action for attaining a specific goal.
To a manager means planning is thinking about what is to be done, who is going to do it, and how and when he will do it.
Planning also required thinking about past events and future opportunities and impending threats. The planning process finds organizational strengths and weaknesses.
Definition of Decision-making
Decision-making is the process of identifying a set of feasible alternatives and choosing a course of action from them. Decision-making is a part of planning.
Decision-making is an intermediate-sized set of activities that begins with an identifying problem and ends with choice making or decision giving.
Management is constantly influencing the organization’s activities and the decision-making process is central to doing it.
In the decision-making process, a manager identifies a specific situation and finds the threats and opportunities that it offers.
Then the manager must find the available alternatives to tackle the situation.
This is where planning comes in.
By planning; manager finds these alternatives by testing and measuring their effectiveness. They identify the pros and cons of each alternative.
After that, the managers must use their decision-making skills for selecting one path of action. Decision making is the core of planning. Unless a decision has been made, a plan cannot be implemented in the field.
So we can say that planning and decision-making, both are interrelated.
Decisions can be made without planning but planning cannot be done without making decisions. Planning can be defined as the process of selecting a future course of action.
Decision-making defined as the process of selecting a course of action from the alternatives. They need to be accurate for the welfare of the organization.
