Page 5 - Microsoft Word - Home assignment 19 Directing Meaning Importance

Planning is basically an intellectual process involving thinking,

articulation and analysis to discover and prescribe an appropriate

course of action for achieving objectives. Controlling, on the other

hand, checks whether decisions have been translated into desired

action. Planning is thus, prescriptive whereas, controlling is evaluative.

It is often said that planning is looking ahead while controlling is

looking back. However, the statement is only partially correct. Plans are
prepared for future and are based on forecasts about future conditions.

Therefore, planning involves looking ahead and is called a forward-

looking function. On the contrary, controlling is like a post-mortem of

past activities to find out deviations from the standards. In that sense,

controlling is a backward-looking function. However, it should be

understood that planning is guided by past experiences and the

corrective action initiated by control function aims to improve future

performance. Thus, planning and controlling are both backward-looking

as well as a forward-looking function. Thus, planning and controlling are

interrelated and, in fact, reinforce each other in the sense that:

a. Planning based on facts makes controlling easier and effective;

and
b. Controlling improves future planning by providing information

derived from past experience.