All types of planning look to identify potential for improvement and negotiate the change process within an organization, but what are the key differences between various types of planning? The differences are centered on which level within the organization is responsible for the planning—executive, mid-level, or front-line management—and the timeframe that the planning addresses—long-term, mid-term, or short-term. This week, you compare strategic planning, operational planning, and tactical planning. Types of Planning Essay Paper
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Differentiate between strategic planning, operational planning, and tactical planning
Explain the benefits of having nurse executives involved in strategic, operational, and tactical planning
Demonstrate knowledge of key terms and concepts related to the strategic planning process
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
Martin, B. C. (2019). Planning: What is it and why is it important? In Strategic planning in healthcare: An introduction for health professionals (pp. 1–19). Springer.
Martin, B. C. (2019). The strategic planning process. In Strategic planning in healthcare: An introduction for health professionals (pp. 21–35). Springer.
Martin, B. C. (2019). Sample strategic plans. In Strategic planning in healthcare: An introduction for health professionals (pp.135–169). Springer.
Thomas, P. L., & Winter, J. (2020). Strategic practices in achieving organizational effectiveness. In L. A. Roussel, P. L. Thomas, & J. L. Harris (Eds.), Management and leadership for nurse administrators (8th ed., pp. 135–154). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Clack, L., & Woeppel, J. (2018). Data analytics drives strategic planning in healthcare. Journal of AHIMA, 89(6), 42–43.
Fry, A., & Baum, N. (2016). A roadmap for strategic planning in the healthcare practice. Journal of Medical Practice Management, 32(2), 146–149.
Grube, M. & Crnkovich, P. (2017). Giving a consumer focus to strategic planning in health care. Healthcare Financial Management, 1-5.
Document: Strategic Plan Issue Template (Word document)
Document: How to Identify a Strategic Plan Issue (Word document)
Document: Strategic Plan Overview and Template (Word document)
Required Media (click to expand/reduce)
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Discussion: Differentiating Strategic, Operational, and Tactical Planning
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Continuous planning is an important activity for any organization that aims to evolve to stay current in its industry and serve its intended purpose. There are several types of planning used by nurse executives: strategic planning, operational planning, and tactical planning. Each type of planning usually occurs at different management levels and over different periods of time. A clear understanding of the differences between each type of plan will aid you next week in selecting a meaningful strategic issue for your Strategic Plan.
By Day 3
In your own words, differentiate between an operational plan, a tactical plan, and a strategic plan. Provide an example of each. Types of Planning Essay Paper
Types of Planning
All forms of planning aim to move the organization forward and thus the difference between the three forms of planning lies on the specificity level and the management level that handles each type of planning (Al Shobaki et al., 2017).
The purpose of strategic planning is to provide an organizational direction, while tactical planning includes the tactical steps required in strategy implementation, and the operational planning maintains all the relevant information regarding the available processes, products, and stock (Johnson et al., 2017). Furthermore, strategic planning is needed to examine the organizational position, tactical planning is needed to achieve the long-range objectives, while operational planning ensures that the day-to-day business activities are managed smoothly (Johnson et al., 2017).
Strategic planning is managed by the executive managers while the mid-level managers handle the tactical planning, and the operational planning is handled by the front-line management. Strategic planning is long-term because it takes a long time and can take one year to ten years to be fully implemented (Johnson et al., 2017). On the other hand, tactical planning is mid-term and can take one year or less to complete while operational planning is short-term and can take just one day to be completed. Another difference is that while strategic plans have milestones, a tactical plan can have numerous action steps, while operational plans may only involve a few action steps (Johnson et al., 2017).
Nurse executives possess the essential constituents to blend clinical skills and knowledge with business competencies. Therefore, involving nurse executives in all types of planning will facilitate the accomplishment of the organizational objectives, positively impact patient outcomes, positively impact the work environment and ensure the provision of high-quality care (Lal, 2020). Moreover, involving nurse executives improves the engagement of the nursing staff. This ensures that nurses work towards achieving the set goals (Wadsworth et al., 2016).
References
Al Shobaki, M. J., Amuna, Y. M. A., & Naser, S. S. A. (2017). Strategic and Operational Planning as Approach for Crises Management Field Study on UNRWA, International Journal of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, 5(6).
Johnson, G., Whittington, R., Scholes, K., Angwin, D. N., & Regnér, P. (2017). Exploring strategy (No. 11th e). London: Pearson.
Lal M. (2020). Why You Need a Nursing Strategic Plan, JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(4), 183-184.
Wadsworth, B., Felton, F., & Linus, R. (2016). Soaring into strategic planning: Engaging nurses to achieve significant outcomes. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 40(4), 299-306.