NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Business Studies Chapter 4: Planning

Rules are set of standards or statements that help us understand what needs to be done. Rules can be considered as plans because of the similarity in their nature. A rule can be considered a simple type of plan. Planning is mostly involved with thinking and deciding about the action required for the future. Similar to these, rules are also statements that help in deciding if any action needs to be carried out or not. Rules can be rigid in nature and need to be followed. Not complying with the rules can result in disciplinary action that can be taken by the organisation.

Planning has less chance of working correctly in a changing environment. The nature of business is dynamic, and it continuously changes. For example, factors like social, political, rules and regulations are prone to changes on a continuous basis. Planning cannot detect such changes and therefore prove not that effective. For example, a company has planned to make white bread, but the market demand shifted to brown bread due to people becoming more health conscious. Here, the company needed to change its previous plan, as market factors were not as per the plan.

The type of plan that is adopted by Rama Stationery is a payment policy of making all payments by e-transfer.

Planning is the process of creating a structure in advance regarding the work that needs to be done. It is helpful in defining the objectives and goals that need to be achieved by an individual or organisation. Objectives and goals provide managers with the right direction on the course of action that needs to be followed in order to achieve them. The plan also ensures that the thoughts have clarity and that the right action can be taken in the right direction, which will result in achieving the objectives. Planning helps in making each department know what exactly their functions are so work takes place in a coordinated manner in achieving the organisation’s common objective. If there is no planning, it will result in work being done haphazardly, which results in inefficiency. Therefore, planning ensures that the organisation’s desired goals are achieved smoothly.

The step that has been undertaken by Ms. Rajni is identifying alternative courses of action. In this process, Ms. Rajni has noted down all possible courses of action that can be used to increase the market share.

The following kinds of strategic decisions are taken by business organisations:

1. The line of business that should be followed.

2. Deciding if a new line of business should be started or not.

3. The position that a company should be aiming for in an existing market.

4. The pricing policy that should be adopted.

5. The decision to fix the advertising costs and policy.

Planning always helps in promoting innovation. Formulating policies and plans is an intellectual process, and it requires creativity and some innovation from the managers. Once a plan is formulated, it is not possible for a manager to change it. Such type of rigidity creates hurdles when changes are uncertain, and therefore, it reduces creativity.

Planning is a process of analysing and deciding in advance regarding the tasks that need to be done and the way they should be done. It is a type of mental exercise in which a manager decides on the goals that need to be achieved and the means through which those goals can be accomplished. It involves looking ahead at the future. It can also be defined as setting up objectives and goals, setting up alternatives and deciding on the appropriate action that needs to be taken.

Following are some of the main aspects of planning:

1. Planning must be done by fulfilling a certain objective. There needs to be certain objective which needs to be accomplished with the planning.

2. Plan must be defined for a certain period of time. If planning is not done within a set time period, it can become useless, as the business environment can change, which will lead to changes in the existing plan and a new set of actions to be implemented.

3. Once an objective is decided, the next part is deciding how the tasks need to be achieved. Achieving the objective can be done through various alternative courses of action. Hence, those alternative options need to be determined appropriately.

4. The best alternative should be chosen among the available alternatives in order to get the best result.

Planning is regarded as a forward-looking function, and it is helpful in predicting and analysing the events in future. The future is uncertain and, therefore, cannot be predicted. There exist various forces that can have an impact on the way an organisation functions. Such forces are complex and dynamic in nature, which results in changes occurring on short notice. The factors such as social, political, legal and technological and rules and regulations by the government can change quickly, and due to such uncertainty, one cannot be sure that success can be achieved. Hence, plans need to be modified in order to adapt to the ever-changing environment. Therefore, it can be said that even though planning involves preparing details of the future, it does not guarantee that success will follow.

The type of plan that is adopted by Bharti Airtel is Strategy. Strategy is devised by keeping the business environment prevalent at the time.

The three dimensions of strategy are

1. It helps determine long-term objectives.

2. It helps to determine a particular course of action.

3. It guides on allocating resources which are necessary for achieving the objective.

a. Budget: It is one type of plan that works as a controlling device. A budget is a single-use plan developed specifically for a project of one time or any such similar event.

b. Method: It is a type of plan that is based on analysis and research. It is mostly involved with technical and physical tasks. A method is a type of standing plan which happens at regular intervals.

Organisations create plans in order to meet the desired objectives. It is an essential part of the activity for any organisation, and it forms the basis for its functioning. But sometimes it happens that not all things will go as per the plan that is done. Unforeseen situations can lead to changes in the business environment than can result in cancelling of plans that were created by the organisations. Planning has its own set of limitations that can cause obstruction the completion of the objectives of an organisation. Some of the limitations discussed here can cause organisational objectives to remain unfulfilled.

1. Planning is rigid by nature. Once a plan is created about the objectives that need to be achieved and the course of action that needs to be followed, the manager is unable to make any changes. This type of quality makes it difficult in times of unforeseen changes in the business environment. The plans that are created need to have a certain amount of flexibility so that they can adjust according to the changing nature of the business environment. Rigidity in plans forms an obstacle to the completion of the organisation’s objectives.

2. Business environment is highly dynamic in nature and is therefore uncertain. Planning is unable to foresee those changes and thereby fails to execute accordingly when the situation is not exactly favourable. It causes failure in accomplishing the desired objectives. Therefore, an organisation must adapt to function as per the changing business environment.

3. Formulating plans involves a huge investment in the form of time and money. Planning is based on future happenings; therefore, it requires a great amount of thinking and analysis of the environment. It can also involve calculations that determine the facts and figures, which will be used to determine the course of action. These activities involve high costs, and it can happen that the benefits derived from the planning are less than the amount invested in planning.

4. A good plan is not going to ensure success. Managers are often seen trying out plans that have been successful in the past. It could not be said that a plan will work well if it was shown to be successful in the past, as the prevalent situations may be completely different from the current one. Also, sometimes it is thought that planning can prevent any issues from arising. However, it is not considered that planning is not a solution for the future, it is just a base for predicting future events that may or may not happen.

5. Planning is a time-consuming task; it works for determining future happenings and how to cope with them. Therefore, it involves a lot of research and analysis, which can be time-consuming and result in actions getting delayed.

Planning is the process of creating a structure in advance regarding the work that needs to be done. It is helpful in defining the goals and objectives that need to be achieved by an individual or organisation. Therefore, it involves a series of steps that are bound logically. Following are some of the steps that are involved in planning:

1. The first step in any planning involves setting up the defined goals and objectives. An organisation needs to have a certain set of goals and objectives that need to be worked upon in order to be successful. Managers have the task of defining those objectives clearly so that the workers follow the correct direction in order to meet those goals. Objectives that will be stated in the plan must be understood by all levels of the organisation, it helps individual workers/departments to know what is expected of them so they can put all their effort into accomplishing the objectives. Without a clear definition of goals and objectives, management functions cannot perform as expected.

2. Planning is based on assumptions based on the future. These assumptions are called premises. It is about the future, previous plans and current plans and policies. A similar set of assumptions should be followed by managers at every level of the organisation. Assumptions are important as they pave the path on which organisations decide the plans be made. Therefore, for the successful planning, there should be correct premises.

3. As the assumptions and objectives are developed, there arises a need to identify a different course of action which can be followed. An objective can be achieved by following many ways which are different from each other. Managers need to think about those alternatives. Creativity and innovation are required so that goals can be accomplished in different ways.

4. Once the different paths of action are determined, managers need to check and evaluate those paths. Evaluation will be based on the utility and the consequences of the said actions. The pros and cons of all the alternatives should be thoroughly evaluated, and the most appropriate one should be chosen that can lessen the time required to achieve the objectives.

5. Selection of the best alternative can be accomplished by opting for methods that are deemed to be most feasible as per the mentioned objective. Managerial skills are required to determine the best alternative in terms of efficiency, profitability and costs. Based on the situation encountered there can, one can use a combination of alternatives that can get the work done.

6. Implementing the alternatives requires the involvement of other management functions. It comprises planning and organising the task as per the policy. Implementation is mostly concerned with following the best path and determining how that action will be used in order to accomplish the objectives.

7. Supervision is required in order to check the progress of the plan. By keeping note of all the activities, it can be ensured that all the work is going according to plan. A follow-up action helps in increasing the success rate of a plan and hence the accomplishment of objectives.

1. Plans that can be adopted for this company are policy and strategy.

Policies are the plans that act as a guide in channelising the efforts done by organisation in achieving an objective. They form the basis for interpreting the strategies of the organisation and define broad areas of management functions. Policies are flexible in nature. Strategies help provide a broad view of the plans of the organisation and how they are going to meet the objectives. Using proper strategies and strong policies plan can be drafted for surviving in the market among competitors.

2. Limitations of policy and strategy are

1. Planning is rigid by nature. Once a plan is created about the objectives which need to be achieved and the course of action that needs to be adopted, the manager is unable to make any changes. This type of quality makes it difficult in times of unanticipated changes in a business environment. The plans that are created need to have a certain amount of flexibility so that they can adjust according to the changing nature of the business environment. Rigidity in plans forms an obstacle to the completion of the organisation’s objectives.

2. Business environment is highly dynamic in nature and is therefore uncertain. Planning is unable to foresee those changes and thereby fails to execute accordingly when the situation is not exactly favourable. It causes failure in accomplishing the desired objectives. Therefore, an organisation must adapt to function as per the changing business environment.

3. Formulating plans involves a huge investment in the form of time and money. Planning is based on future happenings; therefore, it requires a great amount of thinking and analysis of the environment. It can also involve calculations that determine the facts and figures, which will be used to determine the course of action. These activities involve high costs, and it can happen that the benefits derived from the planning are less than the amount invested in planning.

4. A good plan is not going to ensure success. Managers are often seen trying out plans that have been successful in the past. It could not be said that a plan will work well if it was shown to be successful in the past, as the prevalent situations may be completely different from the current one. Also, sometimes it is thought that planning can prevent any issues from arising. However, it is not considered that planning is not a solution for the future, it is just a base for predicting future events that may or may not happen.

5. Planning is a time-consuming task; it works for determining future happenings and how to cope with them. Therefore, it involves a lot of research and analysis, which can be time-consuming and result in actions getting delayed.

3. These steps need to be taken to remove planning limitations

1. Plan must not be rigid, so it must have a certain degree of flexibility for managers so that they can deal with events or changes that might be encountered during the planning.

2. Planning should be done knowing the fact that the business environment can be highly dynamic. Therefore, plans should be of the type that can be adjusted as per the current business environment with minimum effort.

3. During the course of planning, unnecessary cost and time wastage should be stopped.

4. There should not be reliance on only the pretested plans. There should be new plans which should be drafted as per the existing situation and the prevailing circumstances.