Planning Tools and Techniques Module

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-1

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-2

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-3

Assessing the Environment

• Environmental scanning - the screening of large amounts of information to anticipate and interpret changes in the environment.

• Competitor intelligence - an environmental scanning activity by which organizations gather information about competitors.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-4

Forecasting Techniques

• Forecasts - predictions of outcomes.• Quantitative forecasting - forecasting that

applies a set of mathematical rules to a series of past data to predict outcomes.

• Qualitative forecasting - forecasting that uses the judgment and opinions of knowledgeable individuals to predict outcomes.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-5

Exhibit PM-1: Forecasting Techniques

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-6

Exhibit PM-1: Forecasting Techniques (cont.)

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-7

Benchmarking

• Benchmarking - the search for the best practices among competitors or non-competitors that lead to their superior performance.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-8

Exhibit PM-2: Steps in Benchmarking

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-9

Allocating Resources

• Resources - the assets of the organization including financial, physical, human, intangible, and structural/cultural.

• Budget - a numerical plan for allocating resources to specific activities.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-10

Exhibit PM-3: Types of Budgets

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Exhibit PM-4: How to Improve Budgeting

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Scheduling

• Scheduling - detailing what activities have to be done, the order in which they are to be completed, who is to do each, and when they are to be completed.

• Gantt chart - a scheduling chart developed by Henry Gantt that shows actual and planned output over a period of time.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-13

Exhibit PM-5: A Gantt Chart

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Scheduling (cont.)

• Load chart - a modified Gantt chart that schedules capacity by entire departments or specific resources.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-15

Exhibit PM-6: A Load Chart

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-16

Scheduling (cont.)

• PERT network - a flowchart diagram showing the sequence of activities needed to complete a project and the time or cost associated with each.

• Events - end points that represent the completion of major activities in a PERT network.

• Activities - the time or resources needed to progress from one event to another in a PERT network.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-17

Scheduling (cont.)

• Slack time - the amount of time an individual activity can be delayed without delaying the whole project.

• Critical path - the longest sequence of activities in a PERT network.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-18

Exhibit PM-7: Steps in Developing a PERT Network

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-19

Exhibit PM-7: Steps in Developing a PERT Network (cont.)

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-20

Exhibit PM-8: Events and Activities inConstructing an Office Building

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-21

Exhibit PM-9: PERT Network forConstructing an Office Building

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Breakeven Analysis

• Breakeven analysis - a technique for identifying the point at which total revenue is just sufficient to cover total costs.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-23

Exhibit PM-10: Breakeven Analysis

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-24

Linear Programming

• Linear programming - a mathematical technique that solves resource allocation problems.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-25

Exhibit PM-11: Production Data forCinnamon-Scented Products

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-26

Exhibit PM-12: Graphical Solution to a Linear Programming Problem

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Project Planning

• Project - a one-time-only set of activities that has a definite beginning and ending point in time.

• Project management - the task of getting a project’s activities done on time, within budget, and according to specifications.

• Scenario - a consistent view of what the future is likely to be.

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-28

Exhibit PM-13: Project Planning Process

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-29

Terms to Know

• Environmental scanning• Competitor intelligence• Forecasts• Quantitative forecasting• Qualitative forecasting• Benchmarking• Resources• Budget• Scheduling• Gantt chart

• Load chart• PERT network• Events• Slack time• Critical path• Breakeven analysis• Linear programming• Project• Project management• Scenario

Management, Eleventh Edition by Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter ©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 9A-30