State any three points of importance of planning function of management.

. Importance of planning:

(i) Direction for Action: Planning provide direction for action by prescribing what is to be achieved (objectives) and how it can be achieved (various actions organisation-wide),

(ii) Reducing Risks of Uncertainty: Changes in business environment create uncertainty and consequently risks for an organisation. Managers actions, thereby reducing the risks of uncertainty.

(iii) Reducing Overlapping and Wasteful Activities: Planning reduces overlapping and wasteful activities by prescribing what is to be done and how this can be done, and only necessary activities are performed without duplication of activities.

(iv) Promoting Innovative Ideas: Planning promotes innovative ideas which are unique in some way to solve business problems or to achieve organisational objectives in new ways. Planning being the primary function of management, new ideas are introduced at the planning stage itself.

(v) Facilitating Decision-Marketing: Planning facilitates decision-marking throughout an organisation by providing guidelines for this. This not only quick decision-marking process but also ensures similarity of decision on the same matters throughout the organisation.

(vi) Providing Basis for Controlling: Planning providing basis for controlling by specifying standards for evaluating actual performance results. If there is any deviation between the two, necessary corrective actions are taken to ensure that no deviation emerges between the two in future.