Trends, problems and challenges in planning and decision making sheetEssay frameDiscuss the trends, problems and challenges in planning and decision making.
How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.
- 1 · Open. Planning and decision making are harder today because the environment changes quickly and information is never complete.
- 2 · Problems of planning.
- Rigidity
- Dynamic environments
- Cannot replace creativity
- Focus on today, not tomorrow
- Repeating past success
- 3 · Planning under uncertainty.
- Specific but flexible plans
- Scenario and contingency plans
- Decentralized planning
- Continuous scanning
- 4 · Decision biases. Name and explain three or four: overconfidence, anchoring, confirmation, framing, sunk costs.
- 5 · Group decisions. Advantages, disadvantages and groupthink; fixes such as brainstorming, the nominal group and Delphi techniques.
- 6 · Trends. Big data and artificial intelligence, evidence-based management and design thinking.
- 7 · In Sri Lankan business. Tourism after 2019, COVID-19 and 2022 showed the value of flexible, scenario-based plans.
- 8 · Close. Good managers still plan, but keep their plans and their minds open to change.
Scoring tip: Organize the answer under three headings: planning problems, decision problems, and trends. Examiners like clear structure.
