A letter from the President

Abstract

Businesses today require more and better planning and more and better strategies than ever before. Yet, as some of us are painfully aware, planning departments, at least in many major organizations, are getting smaller and smaller. Some of this cut in department size can be attributed to the sophisticated new software that has replaced manual number crunching and forecasting. However, much of the cutback is related to management's increasing demand that line managers take over part of the planners' job. Nowadays line managers are expected to think and act strategically and fully understand how their operations “fit” the company's global plan. This requires the development of strategic management skills and thought processes normally associated with planners, planning departments, and staff functions.

Citation

Lerman, R.L. (1985), "A letter from the President", Planning Review, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 5-5. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054112