Types of planning
1. Strategic planning: Strategic planning includes those plans that are designed
for the whole organization and seek to determine the overall organizational goals
and determine the position of the organization in society. These plans are longterm, include general cases depending on the effective environmental conditions
and factors, and are interpreted by operational and short-term plans (Zarei Matin,
2001).
Strategic plans are organized foresight including the following steps:
A) Determining long-term missions and goals;
B) Separation of missions into short-term quantitative and qualitative goals,
which is called goal-setting;
C) Setting policies;
D) Executive (tactical) planning (Rezaian, 2000).
2. Operational planning: They are plans that seek to determine how to achieve
the overall goals. Operational planning refers to planning to achieve general
organizational goals in different departments and units (Zarei Matin, 2001).
The operational planning steps are as follows:
A) Preparation of short-term plan (budgeting and scheduling);
B) Determining performance and position criteria (quantity, quality, and cost);
C) Reviewing and determining cases of deviation;
D) Preparation of a new plan (Rezaian, 2000).
3. Short-term planning: It includes operational goals and plans and regulates
activities that take place over a year or less, for example, monthly, weekly, and
even daily plans in units.
4. Medium-term planning: It generally has a time range of one to five years
and includes short-term goals and plans.
5. Long-term planning: It covers strategic goals and plans that may take more
than five years, although the exact time horizon of each plan varies from
organization to organization. Managers in dynamic and complex environments
may not be able to plan for a period of longer than five years. Therefore, their

strategic plans can cover a shorter period. In environments with stable time
horizon, a strategic plan can cover a period of ten to twenty years (Feizi, 1999).
6. Definite plans: Plans are called definite if they are precise, definite, and clear,
in which the way to achieve the goals is precisely specified, and there is no
ambiguity. For example, for a manager who plans to increase sales by 20% over
the next 12 months, the methods for achieving that goal should be defined, and
the necessary budget should be allocated.
7. Guiding planning: Definite plans sometimes cannot be designed due to the
high uncertainty in environmental factors inside and outside the organization.
Guiding planning, therefore, provides a greater degree of flexibility by
specifying general guidance for managers. Such plans are interpreted and used
according to environmental conditions. Increasing profitability between 5 to
10% in the future, or improving the organization’s position in the market are
examples of this type of planning (Zarei Matin, 2001).
In terms of nature, planning is classified into physical planning, organizational
planning, process planning, financial planning, task planning, and general
planning (Rezaian, 1998).
Planning styles
1. General organizational goals are set based on the personal opinion and
individual judgment of the managers.
In this style, managers set strategy based on their insight, awareness, and power
in the organization, and there is no specific rule for how to plan.
2. Managers determine organizational strategies according to the
previously set strategy and minor and gradual changes in them.
In this style, there are no widespread and rapid changes, and the organization
gradually adapts to new conditions. This style brings with it very few strategic
changes and risks, but it does not make it possible to adapt quickly to changing
external conditions.
3. In another style called strategic or comprehensive planning,
organizational strategies are determined based on a specific order and rule.
In this style, special steps are taken regularly. Strategic planning style is
considered by most management experts as the most effective way to set goals
and strategies because relying on individual opinions to set organizational

strategies is not effective in all cases and also, making small changes to
determine strategy in today’s changing conditions does not seem enough (Zarei
Matin, 2001).