Answer to Question #169308 in Management for Eugene

Question

What types of planning do you do in your personal life? Describe these plans in terms of being;

1. Strategic or operational

2. Short term or long term

3. Specific or directional

Answer 1

Every day I perform a series of activities in which few are very important while other may not be. But to perform every activity, I need to design the things systematically. I prioritize activities as per their importance and then take the action to make it fruitful. As per their value and importance I may develop following types of plan in my daily life;

Strategic or operational plan: Strategic or operational plan means a collection plan which tells the way I can achieve the ultimate goal of a given task by creating clear and defined steps. As an operational plan, if I have an important task in hand then, I have to create step by step action which is oriented towards achievement of overall objective.

Short term or long term. A long-term plan is crucial to the ultimate success of individual. A long-term plan for many persons, generally extends four to five years into the future. For others, a long-term plan may only look two or three years into the future. After that, it becomes too difficult to predict the future with any degree of certainty. Short-term plans generally allocate resources for a year or less. They may also be referred to as operational plans because they are concerned with daily activities and standard personal operations. Different execution levels guarantee implementing different types of short-term plans. For example, being a department manager am comfortable implementing an operational plan for the entire year for the department.

Specific or directional. Specific plans are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation. The plans require definite objectives, and do not contain any ambiguity. For example, I have a specific plan of finishing my undergraduate by the end of the third year. On the other hand, directional plans are the flexible plans that set out general life guidelines. The plans are preferable in a dynamic environment where an individual must be flexible to respond to unexpected changes.