Question

Reflection- Planning as one of the functions of management. Summarize how the planning concepts and tools provided, help you in your career. also explain if you will be adopting any of the techniques for use inyour personal and/or educational life and how

Answer 1

Planning –

Henri Fayol has proposed five functions of management. Out of these five functions, planning is the first main function which directs other functions such as organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Planning is looking ahead and defines goals for a future direction. Planning also involves identification of resources and missions to achieve the desired direction and target.

Planning tools and concepts in my career – I worked as a Journal Manager in a large multinational publishing company. The role Journal Manager plays a critical role in publishing the journals (STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) and business journals). Planning is one of the main competencies that a Journal Manager should possess. Each journal requires efficient planning to avoid any delay in the publication of the journals. Planning in this context refers to

• SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity and threats is a very good planning tool to enhance oneself. I used SWOT analysis for my resume to seek a good career and not just a job.
• Effective communication with Editor, reviewers and authors to ensure that the manuscripts are reviewed on-time and the Editors take a decision (accept or reject) on the manuscripts. The accepted articles move to production.
• Production planning- A typical printing of an article takes approximately 28 days if there are no technical glitches with the article. The Journal Manager ensures that there is seamless publication of articles for on-time delivery.
• Scheduling –The publishing dates need to be approved by the Publisher atleast one year ahead (weekly, monthly, quarterly, once in 15 days, etc). These dates need to be updated on the Production Technical platform as soon as the year end publishing ends.
• Special Issues – If there are any special issues suggested by the Publisher, then the related articles need to be moved to a separate folder to ensure they are published together to avoid mixing them up with regular journals.
• Next issue –sometimes the marketing team would provide content to be published in the upcoming issues. The Journal Manager should plan carefully and ensure that these contents are added in the upcoming issue.

The above are just some aspects of planning. A proactive Journal Manager should be well versed in planning activities to excel in their role.

Personal life- Ofcourse, planning is part of our daily activities. I would use planning concepts in planning for the future of my family and children. Budgeting is a very useful planning tool. Budgeting helps me to spend within the family income and save for the future. Planning helps to organize the different requirements and activities that is demanded by my family.