Barriers To Effective Planning †Business Paper

Barriers To Effective Planning – Business Paper Free Online Research Papers Barriers To Effective Planning Business Paper Cronje, Du Toit, Marais and Motlatla (2004:141 142) statement is that, â€Å"planning is the starting point of the management process. Planning is the fundamental element of management that predetermines what the business proposes to accomplish and how it intends in realizing its goals. In other words, planning involves those activities of management that determine the mission and goals of an organization, the ways in which these are to be accomplished, and the deployment of the necessary resources to realize them. In short planning entails a systematic and intelligent exposition of the direction a business organization must follow to accomplish predetermined goals. Planning encapsulates the following three dimensions: ? The determination dimension: The business must determine what it wants to achieve by a specific date in future. This means that goals have to be formulated that will serve as guidelines for the business and its various departments and sub-departments. ? The decision-making dimension: The goals determine the actions that are necessary, or the way in which they might be accomplished. ? The future dimension: A goal is something to be accomplished in the future. Planning establishes a connection between the things that have to be done now to bring about a certain situation in the future.† ? As a fundamental element of management, planning is not only the starting point of the management process, but in a sense also the point around which management activities revolves. The goals and the plans determine the type of organization needed, the leadership required, and the control to be exercised to steer the business as productively as possible towards its goals.† My own statement about planning: â€Å"Planning include the organizations objectives or goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing a comprehensive structure of plans to integrate and coordinate activities.† The focus on the first question will be to identify the barriers to effective planning and the measurements to overcome the barriers. First part: Identify barriers to effective planning: Stephen P. Robbins and David A. Decenzo (2004: 79 80) identify the following barriers to effective planning: ? â€Å"Planning may create rigidity: formal planning efforts can lock an organization into specific goals to be achieved within specific timetables. When these objectives were set, the assumption may have been made that the environment wouldn’t change during the time period the objectives cover. If that assumption is faulty, managers who follow a plan may have trouble. Rather than remaining flexible- and possibly scrapping the plan-managers who continue to do what is required to achieve the original objectives may not be able to cope with the changed environment. Forcing a course of action when the environment is fluid can be a recipe for disaster. ? Plans can’t be developed for a dynamic environment: Today most organizations face dynamic change in their environments. If a basic assumption in making plans-that the environment won’t change-is faulty, then how can one make plans? We describe today’s business environment as chaotic, by definition, that means random and unpredictable. Managing chaos and turning disasters into opportunities require flexibility, and that may mean not being tied to formal plans. ? Formal plans can’t replace intuition and creativity; Successful organizations are typically the result of someone’s vision, but these visions have a tendency to become formalized as they evolve. Formal efforts typically follow a methodology that includes a thorough investigation of the organization’s capabilities and opportunities and a mechanistic analysis that reduces the vision to a programmed routine. That can spell disaster for an organization. For instance, the rapid rise of Apple Computer in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s was attributed, in part, to the creativity and anticorporate attitudes of one of its co-founders, Steven Jobs. But as the company grew, Jobs felt a need for more formalized management, something he was uncomfortable performing. He hired a CEO, who ultimately ousted Jobs from his own company. With Job’s departure came increased organizational formality-the very thing Jobs despised because it hampered creativity . ? Formal planning reinforces success, which may lead to failure; we’ve been taught that success breeds success. That has been an American tradition. After all, if it’s broken, don’t fix it.Right? Well, maybe not! Success may, in fact, breed failure in an uncertain environment. It is hard to change or discard successful plans-to leave the comfort of what works for the anxiety of the unknown. Successful plans, however, may provide a false sense of security-generating more confidence than they deserve. Managers often won’t deliberately face that unknown until they are forced to do so by changes in the environment. But by then, it may be too late†. Second part: And discuss the measures to overcome such barriers: Cronje, Du Toit, Marais and Motlatla (2004: 141 142) Identify the following measurements to overcome the barriers: ? â€Å"Management should recognize the limitations of planning and understand that Plans will require adjustments on an ongoing basis (Cronje,et ,al,2004). With respect to the degree of variability, the greater the uncertainty, the more plans should be of the short-term variety. That is, if rapid or important technological, social, economic, legal, or other changes are taking place, well-defined and precisely chartered routes are more likely to hinder an organization’s performance than to aid it. Shorter-term plans allow for more flexibility. ? Management should ensure effective communication of organizational plans at all levels (Mancosa Business Management 101 guideline). Planning establishes coordinated effort. It gives direction to managers and non-managers alike. When all organizational members understand where the organization is going and what they must contribute to reach the objectives, they can begin to coordinate their activities thereby fostering cooperation and teamwork. ? Planning compels managers to look to the future. It eliminates crisis management by obliging future-oriented management to anticipate threats in the environment, and to take steps in time to avert them. By looking back over the past and forward to the future, management can organize the present so that the future will be as prosperous as possible. ? Planning ensures that business keep abreast of technology. The influence of modern technology on contemporary businesses, especially in the development of complex products using complicated processes, makes heavy demands on planning. It takes about ten years to develop a supersonic aircraft or a military helicopter. It is very expensive in both time and money to launch such a project, and proper planning is critical to its success. ? Planning promotes stability. Probably the most important single factor-even in smaller or less complex business-that makes planning indispensable is rapid change in the business environment. Indeed, strategic planning has its origins in the very instability that has been one of the main characteristics of the business environment since the 1960s. Planning, therefore, encourages proactive management. In other words, management plays an active part in the future of the business†. Research Papers on Barriers To Effective Planning - Business PaperThe Project Managment Office SystemLifes What IfsBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesOpen Architechture a white paperDefinition of Export QuotasIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Hockey GameResearch Process Part OneMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

The Legend of the Fifth Sun

The Legend of the Fifth Sun The Aztec creation myth which describes how the world originated is called the Legend of the Fifth Sun. Several different versions of this myth exist because the stories were originally passed down by oral tradition, and also because the Aztecs adopted and modified gods and myths from other tribes that they met and conquered. According to the Aztec creation myth, the world of the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish colonization was the fifth era of a cycle of creation and destruction. They believed their world had been created and destroyed four times before. During each of the four previous cycles, different gods first governed the earth through a dominant element and then destroyed it. These worlds were called suns. During the 16th century- and the period in which we still live today- the Aztecs believed that they were living in the fifth sun, and it would also end in violence at the end of the calendrical cycle. In the Beginning In the beginning, according to Aztec mythology, the creator couple Tonacacihuatl and Tonacateuctli (also known as the god Ometeotl, who was both male and female) gave birth to four sons, the Tezcatlipocas of the East, North, South, and West. After 600 years, the sons began to create the universe, including the creation of cosmic time, called suns. These gods eventually created the world and all the other deities. After the world was created, the gods gave light to humans, but to do this, one of the gods had to sacrifice himself by leaping into a fire. Each subsequent sun was created by the personal sacrifice of at least one of the gods, and a key element of the story, like that of all Aztec culture, is that sacrifice is required to begin renewal. Four Cycles The first god to sacrifice himself was Tezcatlipoca, who leaped into the fire and started the First Sun, called 4 Tiger. This period was inhabited by giants who ate only acorns, and it came to an end when the giants were devoured by jaguars. The world lasted 676 years, or 13 52-year cycles according to the pan-Mesoamerican calendar.The Second Sun, or 4-Wind sun, was governed by Quetzalcoatl (also known as the White Tezcatlipoca), and the earth was populated by humans who ate only pià ±on nuts. Tezcatlipoca wanted to be Sun, and turned himself into a tiger and threw Quetzalcoatl off his throne. This world came to an end through catastrophic hurricanes and floods. The few survivors fled to the top of the trees and were transformed into monkeys. This world also lasted 676 years.The Third Sun, or 4-Rain Sun, was dominated by water: its ruling deity was the rain god Tlaloc and its people ate seeds that grew in the water. This world came to an end when the god Quetzalcoatl made it rain fi re and ashes. The survivors became turkeys, butterflies or dogs. Turkeys are called pipil-pipil in the Aztec language, meaning child or prince. This world ended in 7 cycles or 364 years. The Fourth Sun, the 4-Water sun, was governed by the goddess Chalchiuthlicue, sister and wife of Tlaloc. The people ate maize. A great flood marked the end of this world, and all the people were transformed into fish. The 4 Water Sun lasted for 676 years. Creating the Fifth Sun At the end of the fourth sun, the gods gathered at Teotihuacan to decide who had to sacrifice him/herself for the new world to begin. The god Huehuetà ©otl, the old fire god, started a sacrificial bonfire, but none of the most important gods wanted to jump into the flames. The rich and proud god Tecuciztecatl Lord of the Snails hesitated and during that hesitation, the humble and poor Nanahuatzin the Pimply or Scabby One leaped into the flames and became the new sun. Tecuciztecatl jumped in after him and became a second sun. The gods realized that two suns would overwhelm the world, so they threw a rabbit at Tecuciztecal, and it became the moon- that is why you can still see the rabbit in the moon today. The two celestial bodies were set in motion by Ehecatl, the god of the wind, who fiercely and violently blew the sun into motion. The Fifth Sun The Fifth Sun (called 4-Movement) is ruled by Tonatiuh, the sun god. This fifth sun is characterized by the sign Ollin, which means movement. According to Aztec beliefs, this indicated that this world would come to an end through earthquakes, and all the people will be eaten by sky monsters. The Aztecs considered themselves â€Å"the People of the Sun† and therefore their duty was to nourish the Sun god through blood offerings and sacrifices. Failure to do this would cause the end of their world and the disappearance of the sun from the sky. A version of this myth is recorded on the famous Aztec Calendar Stone, a colossal stone sculpture whose images referred to one version of this creation tale linked to Aztec history. The New Fire Ceremony At the end of each 52-year cycle, the Aztec priests carried out the New Fire ceremony, or binding of the years. The myth of the Five Suns predicted the end of a calendar cycle, but it was not known which cycle would be the last one. The Aztec people would clean their houses, discarding all household idols, cooking pots, clothing, and mats. During the last five days, fires were extinguished, and the people climbed on their roofs to await the fate of the world. On the last day of the calendar cycle, the priests would climb the Star Mountain, today known in Spanish as Cerro de la Estrella, and watch the rise of the Pleiades to ensure it followed its normal path. A fire drill was placed on the heart of a sacrificial victim: if the fire could not be lit, the myth said, the sun would be destroyed forever. The successful fire was then brought to Tenochtitlan to relight hearths throughout the city. According to the Spanish chronicler Bernardo Sahagun, the New Fire ceremony was conducted every 52 years in villages throughout the Aztec world. Updated by K. Kris Hirst Sources: Adams REW. 1991. Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Third Edition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Berdan FF. 2014. Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. New York: Cambridge University Press.Read KA. 1986. The Fleeting Moment: Cosmogony, Eschatology, and Ethics in Aztec Religion and Society. The Journal of Religious Ethics 14(1):113-138.Smith ME. 2013. The Aztecs. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Taube KA. 1993. Aztec and Maya Myths. Fourth Edition. Austin: University of Texas Press.Van Tuerenhout DR. 2005. The Aztecs. New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO Inc.