Management, 11th Edition

Chapter 8. Planning Processes and Techniques

Chapter 8 Study Questions

1. Why and how do managers plan?

2. What types of plans do managers use?

3. What are the useful planning tools and techniques?

4. How can plans be well implemented?

Learning From Others, Think Now and Embrace the Future

It's easy to get so engrossed in the present that we forget about the future. Yet a rush to the future can go off track without solid reference points in the past. The trick is to blend past experiences with future aspirations, and a willingness to adjust as new circumstances arise.

Oprah Winfrey is a media star, corporate executive, and popular personality. Having grown up poor, Oprah says that she is grateful for getting a good education, calling it "the most vital aspect of my life." She's sharing that lesson through the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for young women in South Africa. At the opening ceremony she said: "I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright that not even poverty could dim that light." She also talked about her past, mentioning that she "was a poor girl who grew up with my grandmother, like so many of these girls, with no water and electricity." As to the goal, she stated that she wanted the new academy to "be the best school in the world."

Nelson Mandela, first president of non-apartheid South Africa, spoke at the opening ceremony and praised her vision. "The key to any country's future is in educating its youth," said Mandela. "Oprah is therefore not only investing ...