Before continuing, I consider it necessary to point out what was stated by Dr. Ing. Orión Aramayo in his work "Manual of Strategic Planning" used in the Diploma "Communications, Public Policies and Development Strategies" of the University of Chile - Institute of Communication and Image, referring to the Argentine pedagogue, philosopher, sociologist and essayist Ezequiel Ander Egg.
“This is why Ander-Egg points out, in the first place, that planning is a dead letter if there is no political will to carry out what is planned.and second, that there is a certain naivety among planners in acting as if planning were a technique capable of introducing, per se, a high level of rationality into political action (Ander-Egg 1995). This implies that regardless of the convenience or praiseworthiness of the objectives pursued by the implementation of the plan, its materialization is impossible if it does not have the support of the key actors to do so, which, in short, have the capacities, attributions, powers or competencies to achieve it. This is why, according to the mentioned author, planning is much more than a process of rationality in decision-making; it is the instrumentation of a political project, even when it has only been defined in a vague and ambiguous way. Finally, according to Ander-Egg,Planning is, ultimately, a political decision, which must consider the different variables that influence it, not only the political or economic, but also the social and cultural ones that, generally, are the ones that determine the most success of a plan. "
I wanted to point out what Aramayo exposed in order to highlight "they have the capacities, attributions, powers or competences to achieve it." My dear reader and you comrade, it is useless, it is really illusory and utopian, to pretend to analyze, conclude and propose solutions to a problem if we do not have the preparation, study and adequate training for it; It is extremely necessary, primary and fundamental to Study.
Studying, studying and continuing to study is the only way to be free, it is the only way to know how to help others, it is the only way to achieve mental and physical independence. Please don't stop studying because we need you.
Planning Types
We have several types of planning, however, we will talk about only three of them: Normative, Situational and Strategic.
Normative Planning
Everything begins with a diagnosis of the current situation, from there, a model of how it would like to be is elaborated, and thus, starting from a concept of rationality, the planner is given the task of deciding on the appropriate ways to achieve the goals and objectives that are believed to be the most convenient and outlines a closed plan to be applied.
In this type of planning, community participation is partial: it can sometimes be autocratic. The unusual thing about this planning is the fact that the subject who plans is outside that social reality and even so he is the owner of the plan and controls it, the subject who plans is "on" or "outside" of the planned reality, has the monopoly of the plan and the ability to control reality.
Its starting point is the "analytical model" and its theoretical base is located in functionalist theory; In other words, it is about adapting individuals to a harmonious, functional and idealistic social system, "the duty to be", where their participation occurs within a process that was developed from outside and their only participation is in the execution, not in the design and less, in the evaluation of it.
Situational Planning
This type of planning was developed by the Chilean commercial engineer, professor and specialist in Senior Management and Strategic Planning, Carlos Matus, a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government today, introduces Situational Strategic Planning (PES) as a planning method for Public policies during the government of Salvador Allende, has as its initial basis the concept of situation that according to the author is defined as "the reality explained by an author who lives in it based on his action."
Luis Lira in "Revaluation of development planning" (Local and Regional Development Management Area of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES), public management series 59, ECLAC, Santiago, Chile, August 2006), tells us: «Situational planning is the name given (by the former ILPES official) Carlos Matus to an early reformulation of planning that in its traditional version back in the 60's and even in the early 80's was classified as normative, restricted to government actors, formalistic and very focused on the design stage and little on the execution stage.The main ideas of his critique of traditional development planning can be found in his book Strategy and Plan published in 1972, in which he extensively analyzes the problems raised by both the introduction and the functioning of planning in Latin America. "
Castellano Hercilio Bohórquez in his work «planning: a tool to face complexity, uncertainty and conflict» (CENDES, 2nd Extended Edition, Caracas, Venezuela, 2010) tells us: «to plan means« to calculate, preside over and precede the actions to take an initial situation to others, until reaching the situation that the actor intends to achieve ». To this end, four phases or moments are distinguished: explanatory, normative, strategic and operational, which we have summarized before as follows:
The explanatory moment is based on flowcharts of cause-effect for each problem considered; the most visible manifestations of these problems are noted as phenoproduction. Its most immediate causes, the result of the accumulation and institutionalization of certain facts, such as phenostructure; and the deepest causes, at the very root of society, as genostructure. In the normative moment, the "should be" is established and in the strategic, through an analysis of economic, technical, political and institutional viability, the "power to be".
Finally, at the operational moment, the will to do is put into operation, which traditionally occurs through the daily practice of governments and in situationism through the Situation Room, where politicians and technicians are together, supported by a data bank, analyzing the daily change of reality and making decisions about it.
As can be seen, the first three moments do not differ fundamentally from what is traditionally supposed to be done: there is a diagnosis, an objective image and a selection and evaluation of actions to transform the existing reality into another more desirable and possible one; The big difference, apart from the form that the diagnosis takes (plan book that can be reviewed very occasionally or flowchart in permanent revision), lies in the desirable-difficult ideal of planning as a permanent game between social forces, in order to define continually dynamic balances between them. "
On the other hand Amarista and Camacho in their work “Instructional Planning” (UNELLEZ Editorial Fund. Barinas, Venezuela, 2004) tell us: “it is that which is generated by instances of discussion, calculations and analysis of the actors of an organization that build a objective situation of a certain social act "
Definitely, in accordance with its origin, it is an excellent tool for social change (it articulates the political with the economic), in fact, it was born and is characterized by being a social process. Unlike the Regulations, it assumes more realistic assumptions, since who plans is within reality and coexists with other actors who also plan.
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is so closely intertwined that it is practically inseparable from the entire management process; therefore, every manager, like every manager, must necessarily understand and handle with ease, their characteristics, nature and performance.
At this moment Peter Drucker comes to mind when referring to effectiveness and efficiency (effectiveness) since not even the highest possible degree of efficiency will be able to compensate for a wrong selection of goals (effectiveness). This criterion has an interesting similarity with the two aspects of strategic planning: it is essential to establish the "correct" goals and then choose the "correct" means to achieve those goals. Both aspects in this planning are vital for the well-being of the administrative process in the organization.
Strategic planning places special emphasis (it is not the only one) on the analysis of the context and its past evolution, revolves around the elements that are at its peak (vision, mission, objectives and global strategies of the organization) and focuses mainly in the guidelines, objectives and strategies for the well-being of the organization and its interrelation with the environment (community and therefore the country).
I think it is necessary to point out, rather to highlight, that strategic planning basically questions the organization as a whole and breaks outright with what is urgent and addresses what is important, in contrast to the normal operational functioning in which organizations are immersed, for what generally faces a series of typical barriers in the different hierarchical levels of these.
I could not finish without first highlighting what Tamara Fuentes and Marisabel Luna Cardozo, both from the "Antonio José de Sucre" National Experimental Polytechnic University, point out in their article "Analysis of three Strategic Planning Models under five Principles of Complex Thought" (REDIP. UNEXPO. VRB. Venezuela. Vol. 1. No. 2. May 2011. http://redip.bqto.unexpo.edu.ve). “Among the strategic planning models are those of: Fred David; Kaplan and Norton (Balanced Scorecard) and Goodstein, Nolan and Pfeiffer (Applied Strategic Planning) »and they continue to tell us:
Fred David Model
It refers to the systemic principle, this model specifies the interaction of the components of the organization with respect to itself, through the three (3) phases that compose it: formulation, implementation and evaluation of the strategy; establishes an interaction between the different hierarchical levels and recognizes that planning must include managers and lower-level employees. In this way, decision-making is not presented as the sole responsibility of the managerial level, and establishes the participation of staff as a key factor for commitment to the necessary changes. The model generates a physical and cognitive structure manifested in the strategies, which are translated into a strategic plan, the results of which are revealed as knowledge of the organization for decision-making.The principle of feedback is evident in this model since it specifies that the strategic planning process never ends, feedback is applied when obtaining the results in the evaluation phase and being compared with said plan. Three stages are handled:
- Strategy formulation Strategy implementation Strategy evaluation
Kaplan and Norton Model (Balanced Scorecard)
This model does not respond to the systemic principle when it establishes the translation of the strategy into strategic objectives only by the top management of the organization, and does not manifest the interaction of the parts that make it up as an organizational pattern, which can be evidenced in the first phase through the clarification of the vision, without considering the workers of different hierarchical levels within the organization. Likewise, it proposes an information system that disseminates the objectives as well as the strategic indicator system for measuring the strategic plan.
This is a vertical command and control model where the CEO determines direction while managers and front-line employees carry out orders and implement the plan.
Goodstein, Nolan and Pfeiffer model
The systemic principle is evident in the Applied Strategic Planning Model, since the authors state the need for the interaction and interconnection of different actors within the organization in the planning phase, that is, the model considers, on the one hand, the creation of working groups made up of both the CEO and a representative group of workers in the organization who contribute to the decision-making process, as well as the evaluation of the response to these decisions. The Model involves nine sequential phases
- PlanningSearch for valuesMission formulationBusiness strategy designPerformance auditingGap analysisIntegration of action plansContingency planningImplementation
Footnotes
- Matus Carlos (1972). Strategy and Plan. Texts from ILPES Editorial Universitaria Siglo XXI Editores Santiago de Chile.Iveplan. «Course on situational planning. Technical Level ». Undated, pp. 7 and 8 Castilian Hercilio Bohórquez. The office of the planner. Vadell Hermanos Editores. Caracas. 1991.http: //www.degerencia.com/articulo/la-efectividad-punto-de-equilibrio-entre-eficacia-y-eficiencia.
