9 PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATIVE PLANNING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The principles of administrative planning are points that must be remembered to ensure that the administration can work correctly. They are universal; they may change over time, but even these changes will be universal.

The principles of planning are very important to successfully run an institution or an organization. They also function as guides to help managers simplify the administration process.

These principles must relate and complement the operations, plans or orders; They should provide instructional information covering the logistics and administrative support of the operation.

An organization must follow a process that develops and maintains an environment in which individuals, working in groups, can meet specific goals.

These goals must create a profit or must satisfy certain needs. Planning principles should help meet the specific goals of the organization.

The 9 most important principles of administrative planning

1- Principle of flexibility

It refers to the fact that a system should be able to adapt to changes in the company based on its needs, operations and management. According to this principle, there must be flexibility in the plans.

This is important because flexibility allows plans to adapt to contingencies that may develop in the future.

In this way, the plans should be adjusted so that they can adapt to changes that may develop after the plans have been formulated.

However, there is a degree of danger associated with flexibility: managers must be aware that changes can influence previously made decisions.

For that reason, managers must weigh the cost of making changes against the benefits provided by flexibility.

2- Principle of universality

The planning process must have a number of necessary elements (such as time, personnel, budget, raw materials, etc.) so that when designing the plan, everything can be unified. All these elements will influence the process.

In this way, when the planning process is complete, management can get up and running right away.

3- Principle of rationality

Rationality is the process of understanding a problem, followed by the establishment and evaluation of the criteria for formulating plans, the formulation of alternatives and their implementation.

All decisions must be based on reason and logic, with little or no emphasis on values ​​and emotions.

The manager must learn from experience to define the correct method or procedure to follow to obtain the correct result.

4- Principle of precision

Precision is the lifeblood of planning. This provides the planning with an exact, definitive and appropriate meaning in its content and magnitude.

Any errors in planning affect the other functions of the administration. Therefore, precision is the ultimate importance of every kind of planning.

For that reason, all plans must be precise. The more precisely goals are set, the more likely they are to be successful. According to this principle, plans should never be made with vague statements.

5- Principle of unity

This principle refers to the fact that all individuals who have the same objective must be directed towards the achievement of a common goal.

In an organization there should be only one plan for each role. These plans must be connected and integrated, so in the end there should be only one main plan.

Thanks to this principle, an organizational objective can be efficiently achieved, there will be better coordination and efforts will be directed to achieve the goal in the best possible way.

6- Principle of feasibility

Planning must be based on facts and experience. Therefore, it must be realistic by nature. It should represent a program that can be run with more or less existing resources.

Planning should always be based on what can realistically be achieved. You cannot make plans that cannot be achieved from the means you have available.

7- Principle of commitment

Each plan includes a commitment of resources, and meeting these commitments takes time.

If a plan is to be successful, resources must be committed for the period of time that is necessary for its achievement.

For example, if a factory building is planned to be extended and it takes six months to build, the company must be prepared not to make a profit on its revenue from this branch for a period of at least six months.

8- Principle of limiting factor

Planning is choosing the best course from a number of alternative courses of action. The key to making these decisions lies in defining the limiting factor (whether scarce or limited) that can prevent you from achieving your goals.

The limiting factor is some factor, force, or effect in the situation that limits the organization's ability to achieve a particular goal. Therefore, when deciding on a plan, the manager should focus primarily on the limiting factor.

Giving too much importance to factors that are not important is a common planning mistake.

9- Principle of inherence

The process of planning goals is something implicit in organizations. Therefore, managers must find the best way to achieve the objectives they want to achieve. This should be done little by little, as you place immediate objectives.

Planning leads to an efficient result; this allows finding real solutions to the problems faced.

References

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