1. Welcome to the HA499 Seminar!

2. Planning Tools

3. Plans Plans are necessary to implement the organization’s goals
Types of plans:
Policies
Procedures
Methods
Rules
Programs
Projects
Budgets

4. Plans Support each other Must be consistent and integrated
Ensure consistency in application of plans
Two groups
Repeat use
Single use

5. Repeat-Use Plans
Applicable whenever a problem situation presents itself often
Include:
Policies
Procedures
Rules
Methods

6. Repeat-Use Plans: Policies
Policies: Provide managers with general guidelines; reflect constraints, help coordinate activities, and are established by the executives of the organization
When a policy does not exist and guidance is needed, an “appealed policy” may need to be created by appealing to the administration for guidance in the absence of an existing policy.

7. Repeat-Use Plans: Policies
Should be clearly written
Provide for flexibility
“whenever possible”
“under usual circumstances”
Serve as guides to thinking
Management may be reluctant to change them
Should be periodically reviewed

8. Repeat-Use Plans: Procedures
Derived from policies
Much more specific than policies
Serve as guides to action
Step by step (chronological order for acts to be performed)
Often created by managers/supervisors
Written at different learning levels to meet the needs of those performing the job

9. Repeat-Use Plans: Procedures
Creating Procedures
Analyze the work to be done
Involve the employee doing the job in the procedure preparation
Help ensure consistent performance

10. Repeat-Use Plans: Methods
A standing plan for action
More detailed than a procedure
Methods = practices
Are concerned only with a single operation or with one particular step
Manager’s role is to determine the best method

11. Using Work Simplification to Find Best Methods
Methods improvement
An organized approach to determine how to accomplish a task with less effort, time, or cost.
Should encourage employee involvement

12. Repeat-Use Plans: Rules
Most explicit standing plan
Is a statement that either forbids or requires a certain action or inaction without variation
Leaves no discretion in action to take
Related to procedures in that they are guides to action
Lack order of steps
Policies establish the basis for rules

13. Repeat-Use Plans: Organizational Manual
A comprehensive collection of decisions, other repeat-use plans, organization charts, and job descriptions
A tool for orienting new staff
Explains complex relationships
Defines the organization’s objectives and goals
Needs to kept current

14. Single-Use Plans Used for non-recurring situations Include: Programs
Projects
Budgets

15. Single Use Plans: Programs and Projects
A complex set of activities to achieve an objective
Has its own set of policies, procedures, and budget
Project:
Smaller in scope than a program
Requires coordination of other projects

16. Single-Use Plans: Programs and Projects
Coordinating a complex project
Chart
Bar chart that shows planned and actual activities
Control device
PERT tool (Program Evaluation Review Technique)
Used by the military in the 1950s
Critical path method (CPM) is a similar tool used by civilians

17. PERT
Effective for scheduling complex projects where activities have interdependencies
Steps to creating a PERT Chart
Identify each task involved in the project
Estimate the time required to complete each task
Determine the relationships among tasks
Determine when the project must be completed

18. PERT
Graphic display
Shows links between dependent tasks

19. Single-Use Plans: Budgets
Plans that express the anticipated activities and results in numerical terms
Instruments for controlling
Supervisors should be involved in preparing the budget
Thoroughly cover all critical needs
Creates buy-in in controlling the use of financial resources
Dunn, Rose (2007) Haimann’s Healthcare Management (8th Ed). Chicago, Il. Health Administration Press.

20. Questions?

21. Congratulations!
It has been a real pleasure to work with you! My best wishes for your success!