Strategic, Tactical, And Operational Plans.

Differentiate between strategic, tactical, and operational plans.
Strategic plans are developed to achieve strategic goals. More precisely, a strategic plan is a general plan outliningdecisions about resources allocation, priorities, and action steps necessary to reach strategic goals. These plans are set by the board of directors and top management, generally have an extended timehorizon, and address questions of scope, resource deployment, competitive advantage, and synergy.
Tactical Plans aimed at achieving tactical goals, is developed to implement specific parts of astrategic plan. Tactical plans typically involve upper and middle management and, compared with strategic plans, have a somewhat shorter time horizon and a more specific and concrete focus. Thus tacticalplans are concerned more with actually getting things done than with deciding what to do.
Operational Plans focus on carrying out tactical plans to achieve operational goals. Developed by middle andlower-level managers, operational plans have a short-term focus and are relatively narrow in scope. Each one deals with a fairly small set of activities.
How do they relate?
All organizationsengage in planning activities, but no two organizations plan in exactly the same fashion. If managers do not understand this context, they are unable to develop effective plans. Thus understanding theenvironment is essentially the first step in planning. With this understanding as a foundation, managers must then establish the organization’s mission. The mission outlines the organizations purpose,premises, values and directions. Flowing the mission are parallel streams of goals and plans. Directly following the mission are strategic goals. These goals and the mission help determine strategicplans. Strategic goals and plans are primary inputs for developing tactical goals. Tactical goals and the original strategic plans help shape tactical plans. Tactical plans, in turn, combine with the...