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Imagine if a relative or close friend asked you to plan the entirety of their wedding but then refused to share how much money they wanted to spend on it and what their priorities were. For the reception, would you book a high-end hotel or plan a backyard event? Would you book a photography studio for five figures or find a photography student who is working on their portfolio? The inevitable disaster this situation would create can similarly be experienced by managers who lack guidance and direction. Negative outcomes are more likely to be avoided when managers rely on predictive tools, such as strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting. For example, a reasonable budget can enable an organization to allocate resources, provide a plan to achieve goals and objectives, and help measure and communicate organizational performance, thereby enabling managers to make effective decisions. In this Discussion, you will consider how strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting impact an organization and its decision making.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
To prepare for this Discussion:
- Consider the organization where you work or an organization with which you are familiar. Focus specifically on the importance of the budgeting process, forecasting, and strategic planning for informing stakeholders about how the organization operates and how these tools are used in decision making. (Note: If you are not in the position to be involved in budgeting processes, either interview someone in your organization or a professional outside your organization who can provide you with this information. Be sure to identify the position held by this person in your post.)
BY DAY 3
Post an analysis of the role of strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting for an organization, to include the following:
- Provide an overview of the organization and your position within or relationship to the organization.
- Analyze how strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes impact this organization’s decision making. Be sure to include at least one example to support your analysis.
- Examine how you, as a manger or future manager, could utilize a budget to measure performance and to assist in effective decision making.
Refer to the Week 1 Discussion Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.
Important Note About Discussion Rubrics: In the peer-to-peer engagement section of the Discussion, the focus of your posts and responses should be to promote quality interaction with your colleagues and Instructor, to further the dialogue on the particular topic, to deepen your mutual understanding of concepts, and to draw out new ideas. Although you are encouraged to provide support for ideas you bring in from other sources, which is appropriate for discourse within a master’s-level classroom, emphasis is placed on the quality of the engagement as noted in the Discussion rubrics, with 40% of your score based on your level of engagement in the ongoing conversation with your colleagues.
Read some of your colleagues’ postings.
BY DAY 5
Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:
- Ask a clarifying question about how strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes can impact the decision making of the organization your colleague described.
- Provide an insight you gained from your colleague’s analysis of how they could utilize a budget as a manager or future manager.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.
