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Terry defined planning as selecting and relating of facts and making and using assumptions regarding the future in visualization and formulation of proposed activity believed necessary to achieve desired result.
Gross and Crandall applied these definitions to home management and defined planning as specifying how family goals are to be reached. Thus, planning is a process by which a homemaker anticipates the future and discovers alternative courses of action open to her. She then consciously determines the future course of action to achieve the desired results by choosing a course of action from all available alternatives with the greatest economy and certainty.
It is essentially mapping out the courses of action to reach the goal. The need to develop a plan is derived from a felt need to resolve a problem or achieve something. The degree of satisfaction you attain will be dependent upon the completeness of the plan. In order to develop a workable plan one must identify and clarify the demand, event, problem or goal. The inputs during this stage include the values, standards and any information one has.
Although planning is always future oriented, plans vary in specificity from situation to situation. During the planning, standards are set which refers to the quantitative and qualitative measures of establishing standards depending on resource availability and other demands placed upon resources. The type of food served in the family is determined by the money available, the requirements of the people and the facilities and people available for the preparation. In purchasing furnishings for the home, the process of searching various furnishing materials involves the consideration of quality, cost, color, durability, and texture. Evaluation of the different alternatives in relation to the room to be furnished and the likes and dislikes of people inhabiting it, are other factors to be considered. Planning helps in a number of ways.
- Planning helps to minimize risk and uncertainty:
It helps the manager to cope with and prepare for the changing environment. It does not deal with future decisions, but with the futurity of present decisions. It is through planning the manager relates the uncertainties and possibilities of tomorrow to the facts of today and yesterday.
- Planning leads to Success:
Planning may not guarantee success but will definitely helps in directing towards the successful achievement of goals. It will help in shaping the environment which aid in successful achievement.
- Planning focuses attention on the set goals:
It plans the manager or the home maker to focus attention on the goals to be achieved and the activities need to be performed. It makes easier to apply and coordinate the resources more efficiently. It enables the manager to chalk-out in advances an orderly sequence of steps for the realization of the goals and avoids overlapping of the activities.
- Planning facilities control:
In planning, the manager sets goals and develops plans to accomplish these goals. These goals and plans then become standards or benchmarks against which performance can be measured. The function of control is to ensure that the activities conform to plans. Thus, controls can be exercised only if there are plans.
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