Chapter 5: Planning & Goal Setting
🔹 What is Planning?
Planning is deciding:
What goals to achieve
How to achieve them
When to achieve them
Planning helps reduce uncertainty and improves success.
🔹 Vision Statements
A vision statement describes what the organization wants to become in the future.
Effective vision statements are:
Clear
Inspiring
Future-focused ✅
Easy to understand
🔹 Types of Goals
1️⃣ Strategic Goals
Long-term (1–5 years)
Set by top management
Big-picture direction
Example: Reduce company costs by 12% in 4 years.
2️⃣ Tactical (Operational) Goals
Usually about 12 months ✅
Set by managers
Help achieve strategic goals
3️⃣ Short-Term Goals
12 months or less
Specific and action-oriented
🔹 Types of Plans
📌 Strategic Plan
Long-term
Overall direction of the company
📌 Operating Plan ✅
Short-term
Daily or weekly targets
Example: Weekly sales goals
📌 Business Model ✅
Explains:
Services/products offered
Expected profits and costs
Employee roles
How money is made
🔹 Correcting Performance
Managers must:
Compare results to goals
Correct deviations in the plan ✅
🔹 Learning Objectives
Focus on training and skill development.
Example:
Employees complete training on new software ✅
🔹 Effective Goal Setting
Goals must:
Be applied organizationwide ✅
Be clear and measurable
Align with company strategy
📘 Chapter 7: Managerial Decision-Making
🔹 What is Decision-Making?
Decision-making is choosing the best solution from alternatives.
🔹 Decision-Making Styles
1️⃣ Analytical Style ✅
Task-focused
Tolerates ambiguity
Seeks data and opposing views
2️⃣ Conceptual Style
Big-picture thinker
Creative
Long-term focus
3️⃣ Behavioral Style
Focused on people
Supportive
Avoids conflict
🔹 Group Decision-Making
Advantages ✅
More knowledge
Different perspectives
Stronger commitment
Disadvantages ✅
Groupthink
Satisficing
Goal displacement
🔹 Preventing Groupthink
Encourage doubts and criticism ✅
Allow disagreement
Don’t pressure members
🔹 When to Use Group Decisions
Use groups when:
You need acceptance and buy-in ✅
Avoid groups when:
Time is very limited
🔹 Biases in Decision-Making
Framing Bias ✅
People are influenced by how information is presented.
Example:
Political ads presenting the same candidate differently.
🔹 Problems
Problems are:
Obstacles that prevent goals from being achieved ✅
🔹 Reflecting on Decisions
Helps by:
Giving more options for solving future problems ✅
🔹 Technology & Decision-Making
Artificial Intelligence (AI) ✅
Helps with:
Automation
Data analysis
Customer engagement
Weaponized AI ✅
Examples:
Autonomous weapons
Deepfakes
Warned about by Stephen Hawking
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