The Planning Functions of Management

The Planning Functions of Management

"Leaders are proactive. They make change happen instead of reacting to change." (Lateiner 2004) The future requires all levels of management to have the skills and ability to combine many unanticipated and diverse events into its planning. "Planning is the conscious, systematic process of making decisions about goals and activities that an individual, group, work unit, or organization will pursue in the future." (Bateman, T. 2004) In order for an organization to reach its goal, they must plan for change and use effective planning which will help identify opportunities, avoid problems, set the direction for the other functions of management, and improve decision-making.

There are several steps in the process of a basic planning structure. They are situational analysis, alternatives, evaluation, selection, implementation, and monitor and control. Situational analysis is the internal and external reviewing of past events, current conditions, and attempts to forecast future trends. Which is also known to be a SWOT analysis. Followed by an alternative in which management selects alternative targets and actions to achieve goals. Evaluation is the process in which the decision-maker evaluates the advantages, disadvantages, and potential effects of each alternative. Next in selection, the planner has to decide which goals and plans are appropriate and feasible, thereafter, the managers implement the plans designed to achieve the organizational goal. Finally, monitoring and controlling, an essential part of the process, since planning is an ongoing, repetitive process, managers need to monitor the progress and then controlling, in case a action is initiated incorrectly or when situations change.

My Organization

The tax season is the busiest time of the year for our company, so during the last quarter of the year we start to prepare. The tax season is an essential part of the company's income. During those three and a half months, we have more revenue sales than any other quarter during the year.

Analysis

We start by analyzing the previous year's process and what changes have risen for this coming tax season. We prepare by ordering the updates for the tax program, Intuits ProSeries, research any new tax laws that are developing for the new tax year, and purchase the necessary supplies needed such a paper, folders, and computer ink cartridges.

As the analysis has been completed, our company has to take into consideration several changes that have risen in this past year. In this coming 2005 tax season, it is mandatory to inform our clients that the elevator is broken, meaning our elderly and wheelchair bond clients that are not able to walk three flights of stairs, will have to meet with us on the first floor. We also have to notify our annual clients once again, that we moved our office to a different suite in the building. During the last tax season we had several client's go to our old office and left due to the fact that they thought we were not in the building.

Alternatives

Our goal during the tax season is to process each clients tax return and have them send it our by the deadline of April 15th. In order for us the complete each tax return we need to have all correct information provided to us, in which we will in a timely manner process and return them within the week. If not, our only alternative is to file an extension, which gives the client and the company an additional four months to complete the Federal Tax Return, and if that isn't enough time, there is an additional extension which allows the taxpayer an extra two more months. In additional to the individual tax returns, we also do Corporate tax returns, and their deadlines are different. A Corporation's Federal Tax Return is due on March 15th and if an extension is filed the final due date is September 15th.

Evaluation

Filing an extension on a Federal Tax Return is helpful to clients that are unorganized or procrastinators. There are advantages and disadvantages when filing for an extension for a tax return. One advantage is the taxpayer and our company has an additional 4 to 6 months to gather information to process the tax return. But the disadvantage is for the taxpayer that owes money and cannot afford to pay; it is not common for a taxpayer to think that filing an extension gives them more time to save money. The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) expects everyone to pay on time.