Abstract

Planning is generally recognized as an inherent aspect of human endeavor. Without such activity, the earliest enterprises of trade and production could not have existed. The realization of projects of every kind has always required functional forethought of some sort. A telephone system threading throughout the nation today, with each part linked to others, would be impossible without highly organized preparation. Modern productive operations, ranging from the manufacture of products to purely professional services, require advance planning if they are to function and operate efficiently. Certainly, accomplishments and intentions in interplanetary space are inconceivable without extensive and intensive planning of unprecedented sophistication. Planning of progressively higher quality is called for by technological advance, population growth and the increasing complexity of society and its organizational mechanisms. Confronted with the growing complications of modern business and difficulties of making a profit, some companies are expanding staff support to strengthen the process and rewards of comprehensive planning at the highest level of management.