Introduction

Planning should be viewed as a part or element of the crucial elements comprising any social decision; since each social unit whether a family, group, organization, or government practices a planning activity as long as their members were involved in the decision making process or policies enactment for the sake of changing themselves or the environment around them. Hence, planning is an all-time process.

Opinions differed greatly around the definition of planning, however, it could be defined as “a social or organizational activity that is thoroughly thought out for the sake of reaching a bunch of goals that are intended to surmount existing problems within a specifically defined and multi- dimensional technical framework, and this is coupled with earmarking the necessary resources by dedicating whatever is needed to reach the predetermined objectives. It’s therefore evidenced that planning is not a purely individual activity, even though it’s mainly carried out by individuals and influences the actions of multiple groups, organizations and national institutions. Furthermore, planning is not activity meant for the present, but rather, it’s an activity that is meant for the future actions. And it’s conducted based on the prediction. Planning is not a sheer scenario for a wanted situation in the future without having the power and aids to implement it, rather, its phases include the commitment to implement it and enshrining the power necessary to this end.

Irrespective of the multitude of views about which, planning is based on four basic ingredients: First, the factor of study. Second, the target. Third, Prediction. Fourth, delineating the period of time. Because planning is pivoting on future acts, it should determine how and to what extent we see the future. Namely, do we look into the future in order to predict it and cope with it or do we look into the future to build it and morph it ourselves, since the first perspective reflects our willingness to look into the future and plan it whether it were long- or short-range planning, and predicting what could happen in the future and what might happen to the circumstances that influence the organization from the different variables for the organization to be able to cope and adapt with such variables.

The second perspective, however, reflects the willingness to predict the goals of the organization in determining its role in the society and exploring the nature of its relations with all the stakeholders, and the appropriately necessary actions would be taken accordingly for devising the optimum strategy. Thus, we may say that the future takes one of two forms: the first, is the near future with which we can string along and cope with and faced with planning. However, the second is the far future, which we build and shape it ourselves, and it takes place through predicting the mission and goals of the organization, which is represented by the strategic planning. Therefore, if the planning is a mere prediction of the future trends that might affect the organization and determine who should be done to cope with such trends, the strategic planning takes a more profound dimension, as it extends to go beyond the future and delve deeper into the future by shaping the organization at large. And should the planning is concerned merely with just determining the volume of the activity in the future, the change of the type and shape of such activity is assigned to the strategic planning.