Planning and Programming

Abstract

If an Organisation were able to respond immediately and effectively to every problem, every challenge and every opportunity that might suddenly confront it, thinking ahead to the future would be of minor importance to it as an aid to survival. But commonly this cannot be done. Demands, problems, challenges, opportunities translate into required programmes of activity on the part of any Organisation. The execution of a programme in a certain time period—beginning, let us say, at t₀ and ending at t ₁ so that the period is defined by the pair (t₀, t₁)—most often requires that before that period is due to start, a great many preparations must be made. Men must be recruited and/or trained; machines must be procured or set up; supplies of materials must be arranged; and money to finance the whole programme and its preparations must be raised. These cannot be done in an instant: on the contrary, much time may be needed. For example, in the airline industry, if a programme requires that a new airport be built, seven years or more must be allowed for its construction; two or three years are needed to get additional aircraft of existing, production types into service; six months must be allowed for the recruitment, training and induction of people to do certain quite standard jobs; and so on. Consequently a rational Organisation must think ahead to the future. It must plan. That is to say that from time to time its management—its general control system—must take decisions which determine for some periods beginning at future times the human, technological, material and financial resources that will be available.