1st Edition MGT 300 Lecture 6 Outline of Current Lecture II Types of Plans III Smart goals IV Planning and control cycle Current Lecture Types of Plans Standing plans o plans developed for activities that occur repeatedly over a period of time o consist of policies procedures and rules Single use plans o plans developed for activities that are not likely to be repeated in the future o Consist of programs and projects SMART GOALS Specific Goals should be stated in specific rather than vague terms The goal that As many planes as possible should arrive on time is too general The goal that Ninety percent of planes should arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time is specific Measurable Whenever possible goals should be measurable or quantifiable as in 90 of planes should arrive within 15 minutes That is there should be some way to measure the degree to which a goal has been reached Of course some goals such as those concerned with improving quality are not precisely quantifiable In that case something on the These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute order of Improve the quality of customer relations by instituting 10 follow up telephone calls every week will do You can certainly quantify how many follow up phone calls were made Attainable Goals should be challenging of course but above all they should be realistic and attainable It may be best to set goals that are quite ambitious so as to challenge people to meet high standards Always however the goals should be achievable within the scope of the time equipment and financial support available See Figure 5 4 If too easy as in half the flights should arrive on time goals won t impel people to make much effort If impossible all flights must arrive on time regardless of weather employees won t even bother trying Or they will try and continually fail which will end up hurting morale Results oriented Only a few goals should be chosen say five for any work unit And they should be results oriented they should support the organization s vision In writing out the goals start with the word To and follow it with action oriented verbs complete acquire increase to decrease by 10 the time to get passengers settled in their seats before departure Some verbs should not be used in your goal statement because they imply activities the tactics used to accomplish goals such as having baggage handlers waiting For example you should not use to develop to conduct to implement Target dates Goals should specify the target dates or deadline dates when they are to be attained For example it s unrealistic to expect an airline to improve its on time arrivals by 10 overnight However you could set a target date 3 to 6 months away say by which this goal is to be achieved That allows enough time for lower level managers and employees to revamp their systems and work habits and gives them a clear time frame in which they know what they are expected to do THE PLANNING CONTROL CYCLE 1 Make the plan 2 Carry out the plan 3 Control the direction by comparing results with the plan 4 Control the direction by taking corrective action in two ways Correcting deviations Improving future plans