(a) How do mission, vision and values help in developing good plan for an organization? Explain planning premises. (20…

(a) Mission, vision and values in planning, and planning premises

Mission states why the organisation exists and whom it serves, vision describes the future it wants to reach, and values are the principles that guide conduct on the way. Together they supply the direction from which a plan is built. Mission fixes the scope of business and so limits the choice of objectives, vision supplies the long-term target against which objectives are set, and values tell managers which means are acceptable. A plan drawn without them lacks consistency: units may pursue different aims, or a profitable action may breach the firm's principles. The Tata Group's stress on integrity, for example, rules out plans that win business through improper payments, while its mission of improving quality of life shapes investment choices.

Planning premises are the assumptions about the environment in which the plan will be carried out. They are the forecast base, and all managers should plan on the same ones.

Premises are of two kinds. External premises concern the economy, such as growth, inflation, interest and exchange rates, and also technology, politics, law, social trends and competitors' moves. Internal premises concern the firm's own policies, resources, capacity, financial position and skills.

Koontz also classes premises as controllable, semi-controllable and uncontrollable. A firm controls its own price policy, partly influences its market share, and cannot control government policy.

Premises must be realistic, written, communicated and revised when facts change. Without them, departments plan on contradictory assumptions.

(b) Virtual and boundaryless organisations

A virtual organisation is a small core of managers that depends on a network of independent firms for functions such as design, manufacturing, distribution and services. Its structure is a hub with partners linked by information technology and contracts, often formed for a project and dissolved afterwards. The core keeps only its main competence, and outsourcing partners provide the rest. Nike, which designs and markets but uses contract manufacturers, is the usual example.

A boundaryless organisation, associated with Jack Welch of General Electric, aims to remove the barriers inside and outside a single firm: the vertical barrier of hierarchy, the horizontal barrier between functions, the external barrier with suppliers and customers, and geographic barriers. It uses cross-functional teams, wide spans and free flow of information. The difference is that the virtual firm is held together by external contracts and ownership is dispersed, while the boundaryless firm remains one owned entity whose internal walls are removed.

Virtual set-ups suit industries where tasks can be separated and specified, change is fast and capital for factories is heavy: apparel and footwear, consumer electronics, software and IT services, publishing, film production and contract research in pharmaceuticals. Their risks are loss of control over quality and dependence on partners.

(c) Career, career planning, career development and career management

A career is the sequence of jobs, positions and work experiences a person holds over a working life, with the attitudes attached to them. It belongs to the individual, though organisations shape it.

Career planning is the process by which an individual assesses interests, abilities and values, sets goals and selects the path and steps to reach them. It is mainly an individual activity.

Career development is the continuing growth of the person through training, job rotation, mentoring and promotion. The organisation provides the opportunities and the employee uses them.

Career management is the organisation's process of preparing, implementing and monitoring career plans, such as matching people to jobs, succession planning and counselling. It joins individual plans to organisational needs.

The difference lies in the owner and the aim: planning is individual and forward-looking, development is the growth that results, and management is the organisational control of the whole.

The major stakeholders in career development are the employee, who owns the plan, the immediate manager, who gives feedback, coaching and assignments, the HR department, which designs systems, and top management, which provides resources and backs the policy. Mentors and the employee's family also play a part.