Strategic Planning as Methodical Consequence

Abstract

Planning can generally be defined as a well-ordered process using information to develop a projective framework (plan) which conveys development objectives (Gotze 1991). An important element of planning is the application of alternative plots so that the various possible and necessary decisions are recognised at an early stage. This ensures that the planner is able to integrate all sorts of conceivable future environmental conditions and to opt for suitable ways to realise his goals. This is the point where planning turns into management. Management is a well-ordered process for the organisation and directing of complex systems. It is central to any management strategy to select certain steps of action and to bring them into force, in order to be able to influence the evolution of the system as much as possible. During an ongoing management process it is often necessary to question the planning objectives set earlier and, in some cases, to define them again. At this point management returns to the planning stage. It therefore appears that the theoretical distinction between planning as an anticipating decision process (determining planning objectives) and management as organised implementation (realising of the planning objectives) can hardly be sustained in practice. Planning and management generally tend to blend into another. For exactly this reason the two processes have so far not been differentiated.

it is less important to foresee the future than to be prepared for it (Perikles).