Planning

Thomas Gunton

Planning is the rational pursuit of goals by actions. Planning normally involves either explicitly or implicitly the following stages: identification of goals, objectives, and targets; development and evaluation of alternative strategies to achieve goals; identification of the preferred strategy; implementation; monitoring; and adjustment of plans based on monitoring results. Within this broad definition there are many variations of planning. Before reviewing variations, it should be cautioned that the large number of planning types and inconsistencies in terminology preclude developing a comprehensive typology. However, it is useful to organize discussion of planning typology around four themes: the scope of decision-making strategies, political responsibility for planning processes, mechanisms for planning implementation, and the subject matter of planning. Commonly identified decision-making strategies in planning include rational, comprehensive, systems, incremental, and strategic. The rational comprehensive model of planning proposes consideration of all goals and all ends for achieving goals. Ends are assessed for all ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.