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Bateman and Snell (2003) state that planning is the conscious, systematic process of
making decisions about goals and activities that an individual, group, work unit, or
organization will pursue in the future (Planning and strategic management, p. 108). There
are several levels in the planning process. Strategic planning involves setting long-term
goals and is a function traditionally employed by top-level management. Newer models of
strategic planning tend to involve all levels of management. Examples for strategic
planning include profitability and productivity. Tactical planning is carried out by
mid-level management and focuses on the required actions to achieve the strategic goals.
At this point, the planning process is divided into smaller parts which are important to a
certain department or functional area of the company. The process shifts to a short-term
approach. Operational planning is carried out by frontline managers and includes routine
tasks, such as human resources requirements. According to Bateman and Snell (2004)
these three stages of planning have to be linked to form a cohesive unit. A fairly recent
approach to accomplishing this is called Strategic Management. In strategic management
all levels of management play a part in the design and implementation of strategic goals.
This involves the creation of a vision, a mission, and long-term goals. An analysis of
external opportunities and threats and internal strengths and weaknesses is conducted,
which leads to the SWOT analysis in which all factors are taken into account and a
detailed plan is derived. Several factors play a role in determining the planning process in
a company. Some of these factors in my organization include legal issues, ethics and
corporate social responsibility.
In my organization specifically the planning stage starts when a client is considering the
company for a translation or localization project. The manager of the department makes a
decision whether or not the department is equipped to handle this type of project. She runs
an estimate to get an initial idea about the word count and time requirements involved. She
ensures that resources are available and proposes a preliminary schedule. This involves
decisions such as whether a project should be worked on in-house or by a freelance
translator and establishing which memory materials and glossaries can be used.These tasks
are part of the operational planning process of a frontline manager.
One factor, which influences the planning process, is legal issues. Linguists and translators
alike are required to be native speakers of the language into which they are translating
