The term plan refers to a course of action determined in advance by the management. It has always a time frame in other words it is a package of decisions to make efforts to achieve some results in a specified term of period.
- Goals (Target): goal is a desired state of affairs, which an organisation wants to achieve. Overall goals are the collective ends for which the whole organisation makes efforts to achieve. Goals may be of short term or long term in nature. E.g. goal of an automobile company may be to provide low cost and higher quality of automobiles to the public.
- Objectives: objective is the ends towards which activity is aimed. In other words it is desired and end result of an activity. There must be a time frame for the achievement of predetermines objectives. Objectives may differ from one organisation to another. E.g. business organisation will have an objective of earning more profits where as co-operative society has an objective of well fare of its members more-over objectives may change from time to time. An organisation may have single objective or multiple objectives. E.g. single objective—maximization of profits, multiple objective increase in profits with other better facilities to the customers and employees. As per as possible objectives are expressed in miserable quantity and so these provide a path for planning. Because planning is made for the achievement of any objective. Overall these are the desired results in the form of quantity to be achieved by performing any activity there should be a specific time frame to achieve these objectives these should be challenging but achievable.
- Policies: policies are general statements, which guide the thinking in decision making. These are concerned with administrative action and serve a principle for conduct. These are predetermining decisions these helps the managers in achieving the objectives. E.g. policy of hiring a trained engineer or to promote from within the staff. By way of training, policy of setting competitive prices, policy of quick after sale service with in three months from the date of sale. In other words these guidelines (policies) helps the management for taking decision in proper direction to achieve the objective. Policy increase in taking decisions but within limits and so the decision depends on the authority given in the policy.
- Procedures: the procedure is defined as pre-determined se2quence of steps to initiate action and complete the task. E.g. export and import procedure, admission procedure in a school i.e. application in schedule time, screening of facts/data’s, rank of merit and them decision regarding admission; Procedure are the clear cut steps to be taken to perform a job in an optimum manner so that the objectives can be achieved policies and procedures are also interrelated like there will be a policy of summer vacations in the schools. But fixing of schedule of vacations is the procedure. To ensure that orders are handled in a specific way there must be a procedure. So procedure helps the management to rich its objective.
- Rules: rules are specific directions to perform an action or not to perform an action these are the directives to the people in organisation, finding them to do or not to do, to behave or not to behave in a particular way. Rules are always in the form of order’s or directions and not in the form of request. Rules are a set of instructions to be followed in a particular way. These are generally in writing and are impersonal in nature. In business organisations rules are framed regarding recruitment, promotion, managerial decisions ae taken within the boundaries of rules. There is no discretion in there application. When ever the decisions are within rules the person who has taken decision is safe and secured as he is working as per rules, which are acceptable by the people.
- Methods: a method is a prescribed process in which a particular task is performed. Its specifies any best and efficient way of performing the task: – e.g. methods of valuation of stock-cost or market price, which is less, is consider in final accounts. Moreover there are several methods like method of calculating depreciation. Which method will be the basis of nature of business and once selected the method becomes a prescribed manner of performing a job.
- Programme: programme refers to the outline of plans of work to be carried out in proper sequence. Do that the objectives can be achieved. E.g. management want to expand the size of business by 70% so to implement this programme management must lay down certain policies, procedures, methods, rules etc. so that with the co-ordination of these we may become successful to implement this programme. A primary programme may call for any supporting programme in above. E.g. the programme i.e. programme of making arrangement of finance required for expansion, programme of arrangement of trained workers required after expansion and so for the successful implementation behave to make a combination of goals, policies, procedures, rules, tasks, steps to be taken to perform these task, employees and other resources, this over all process combination is known as programme.
- Budget: budget is a statement of exceptive result expressed in numerical term. Budget is a single use plan and can be expressed in respect of finance, material time, etc. so budget is a finance and/or quantitative statement prepare and approved prior to a specified period. Budget always pertains to future it is prepared in advance and expressed in qualitative financial terms