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This article is a primer which aims to examine the application of project management principles in organizational strategic planning. The intended audience is students in health administration and novice leaders in health care.

A six‐phase project management algorithm is presented to serve as a framework for implementing various aspects of an organization's strategic plan, with a particular emphasis on accountability processes.

Leaders in healthcare can increase the effectiveness of their organization's strategic planning processes and improve accountability by incorporating basic project management principles during the implementation phase of strategic planning.

This is a review article drawing on a well‐established literature in project management and strategic planning.

The processes associated with generating an organizational strategic plan are well addressed in the management literature. This article succinctly outlines the application of basic project management principles to the implementation of strategic plans and organizational success, focusing on accountability processes.

Cost effectiveness of health organizations can be improved by implementing project management practices in strategic planning.

The article succinctly applies basic project management principles to the implementation of strategic plans and organizational success.

IN HIS masterly book “Planning and Control Systems: a framework for analysis” R. N. Anthony attempts to clear up some of the confusion which seems to befog both the theory and practice of planning. He distinguishes between two aspects of planning which he sees as fundamentally different — namely, strategic planning and what he calls management planning and control. He defines strategic planning as policy formula‐tion and goal setting for the organization as a whole; a process which involves deciding on company objectives, choosing the resources to be used to achieve these objectives and the policies which are to govern the acquisition, use and disposition of the resources. Stated in these terms strategic planning is very much a staff and top management process. Management planning and control he defines as a type of planning concerned with the administration of the enterprise — for example, bringing new systems of work into operation and formulating personnel practices to meet departmental needs. He sees these localized planning functions as line activities.

The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:

“Corporate planning” is the term which, perhaps more than any other, epitomises the adoption of business management techniques by the public sector. In Britain, with massive local government reorganisation in 1974, many librarians were forced to come to terms with such techniques whether they liked it or not. Of course, in its purest sense corporate planning applies to the combined operation of an entire organisation be it local authority, university, government department or industrial firm. However, in this paper I do not intend discussing “the grand design” whereby the library is merely a component part of a greater body. Rather, it is my intention to view the library as the corporate body. It is a perfectly possible and very useful exercise to apply the principles of corporate planning, and the management techniques involved, to the running of a library or group of libraries. Indeed, many librarians have already done this either independently or as their part in the corporate plan of their parent organisation.

This paper explores the “proto-Keynesian” ideas of progressive members of the scientific management community with regard to micro- and macroeconomic planning/management.

Based on a systematic exegetical analysis of articles published in a largely unexplored primary/archival source, the Bulletin of the Taylor Society between 1915 and 1934.

This paper surfaces a latent “proto-Keynesian” bedrock among progressive segments of the US management community that provides a more cogent explanation for the wholehearted reception, as well as the decisive impact, of Keynes’ ideas on US macroeconomic policy than do extant explanations in the history of economic thought. Further, it reveals that most of these progressive managers with views as to both cause of and solution for the 1930’s Depression were members of the Taylor Society, an epistemic community devoted to the ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the father of scientific management.

The paper adds to the small but growing corpus of revisionist management history that seeks to problematize the received wisdom about scientific management or Taylorism. Few, if any, management historians appreciate that F. W. Taylor provided the basic planning tools which if developed, could enhance humanity’s control over anarchic market forces and aid the construction of a society based on democratic and effective planning.

The successful placing of long‐range technology planning decisions in the context of overall corporate strategic planning requires a mechanism for synthesizing R&D strategy and business strategy. This article argues that formalized technology forecasting has an important operational role to play in achieving the synthesis. Descriptive guidelines for an integrative framework are developed on the basis of a literature review and the author′s technology forecasting work which has been conducted to help devise long‐term research strategy in the offshore industry. Several factors are discussed which are considered to have an important integrative role. Technology forecasting is discussed with respect to these factors and the influence they have on the planning process.

The purpose of this paper is to present practicing management professionals with a model related to succession management and planning.

Using a review of existent literature, this work examines and expounds upon the impact of succession management and planning as a potential genesis of, and an opportunity to mitigate, organizational problems related to senior executive turnover.

This manuscript presents a succession management and planning model for practicing professionals that is based on three key tenets: first, a plan (of some sort) is necessary for corporate resilience and sustainability; second, an organization has in inherent responsibility and need to plan for replacements and prioritize allocation of resources; and third, succession management planning aids in the establishment of organizational resilience and stability amid contingencies.

This work examines how, ultimately, succession management and planning is a means to risk/crisis management aimed at reducing gaps and associated problems related to changes among human capital distribution.

While this work is written with emphasis placed upon managing transition among healthcare organizations and personnel, the information is equally relevant and applicable to a broader audience. In an applied sense, this model provides management professionals with concepts related to orchestrating change at both the individual and organizational levels.

While there is a dearth of literature examining succession management in a variety of industries, little information is directed specifically toward healthcare. This manuscript provides concepts related to effective risk mitigation via defined succession management and planning.

Some of the weaknesses of contemporary computerised financial planning systems and procedures encouraged by batch‐processing environments are described. The failure of many levels of corporate management actively to participate in financial planning or to rely on budgets for operating decisions or as a tool for performance evaluation is due to planning processes that force reliance on accounting and information systems personnel rather than depend on the efforts of operating management. A revolutionary new approach to computerised financial planning currently under way at Adolph Coors Company, Golden, Colorado, USA, is discussed.

The aim of this exploratory paper is to consider the strategic importance of crisis management and integration of crisis planning with the organisation's strategy processes, in particular the utilisation of scenario planning as a crisis planning activity.

A review of the crisis management literature was undertaken and key issues identified, subsequently strategic aspects of crisis management were developed in the context of scenario planning.

The paper contains a discussion of major factors related to a strategic approach to crisis management and a more proactive approach to building relationships with the media. Particular attention should be given to the roles and responses of the media and agencies acting on behalf of the company, as both should been treated in the same way as other relatively powerful stakeholders. The authors suggest that firms can obtain significant advantages through proactive preparation for major relevant contingencies, and its incorporation into the strategic management process.

This paper brings together the debate on the strategic position of crisis management with scenario planning processes to provide a mechanism for designing, evaluating and managing crisis futures. It should prove useful to managers considering the development of crisis management, especially in a strategic context.