The Administrative Planning Process
| Date | 01 December 1976 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237604200408 |
| Published date | 01 December 1976 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The
Administrative
Planning
Process
UDC
338.984.3:35.06
by
Alberto
D.R.
SALINAS,
UN
Consultant
to
ICAP
*
1.
The
contribution
of
the
Administrative
Planning
Process
(APP)
to
the
whole
process
of
national
development
planning
is
largely
dependent
upon
the
degree
to
which
the
former
parallels
the
latter
and
on
the
degree
to
which
APP
thus
helps
to
establish,
maintain
and
develop
an
organizational
network
capable
of
anticipating,
meeting
and
influencing
the
de-
mands
and
responses
of
relevant
inner
and
outer
segments
of
society.
This
proportion
amounts
to
our
working
hypothesis
in
dealing
with
this
subject.
Socio-economic
Planning
and
Administrative
Planning
2.
Planning
has
long
been
widely
recogn-
ized
by
developing
countries
-
by
their
authorities
as
well
as
by
their
scholars
and
practitioners
-
as
an
instrument
of
high
potential
to
effect
economic
and
social
develop-
ment.
3.
As
a
result
of
this
recognition
the
plan-
ning
function
has
gained
official
status
in
the
carrying
out
of
the
economic
and,
to
a
lesser
extent,
the
social
affairs
of
developing
coun-
tries.
But
the
results,
however
great,
have
not
yet
been
significant
enough
to
measure
up
to
expectations.
Either
the
expectations
placed
on
the
functions
are
too
great
for
the
results
capable
of
being
achieved,
or
else
the
results
are
slow
in
achievement,
diminishing
in
volume
and/or
worsening
in
quality.
4.
In
toto,
economic
and
social
planning,
as
practiced,
is
not
achieving
the
results
gen-
erally
expected.
The
results
are,
in
fact,
falling
short
not
only
of
the
expectations
placed
on
the
functions,
but
also
of
the
declared
objectives
and
targets
in
the
plans
themselves.
There
is,
in
effect,
an
&dquo;
implementation
gap
&dquo;.
5.
This
growing
realization
of
the &dquo; imple-
mentation
gap &dquo;
has
been
drawing
the
attention
of
scholars
and
practitioners
to
recognizing
the
need
for
a
distinction
to
be
made
between
planning
as
an
academic
exercise
and
planning
as
a
concerted
articulation
of
organizational
networks
that
could
effectively
carry
out
neces-
sary
actions.
6.
The
academic
exercise
has,
as
a
result,
been
acknowledged
as
a
necessary,
but
not
sufficient,
component
of
the
planning
process
as
a
whole.
People
and
agencies
involved
in
these
exercises
have,
as
a
matter
of
fact,
an
important
role
to
play.
They
may
provide
both
knowledge
on
what
to
do
and
on
how
to
go
about
it,
and
on
centralized
leadership
for
planning
synthesis
and
coordination.
7.
The
concerted
articulation
and,
prior
to
that,
the
adequate
establishment
of
appro-
priate
organizational
networks
of
coordinating
and
executing
agencies,
is
another
role
or
set
of
roles
which
is
essential
in
order
to
complete
or
approach
completion
of
the
whole
picture
of
the
national
planning
process.
8.
The
coordinating
and
executing
agencies
are
in
existence
in
most
of
the
countries.
They
are
the
sectoral
ministries
and
other
central
staff
agencies.
But
either
they
are
not
fit
for
discharging
this
role,
or
there
is
no
clear
picture
of
how
they
may
be
turned
into
effective
planning
networks
for
their
actions
and
out-
puts
to
be
activated,
concerted
and
articulated
along
the
lines
of
central
plans.
9.
As
to
the
central
planning
agency,
a
corollary
of
the
lack
of
effective
networks
of
agencies
with
capability
to
coordinate,
execute
and
monitor
actions
planned
at
that
central
level,
is
a
shortage
of .feedbacks
that
prevent
the
central
planning
agency
from
first
including
in
its
own
plans
meaningful
inputs,
and
then
from
adjusting
those
plans
as
they
are
gradually
developed.
10.
To
overcome
these
shortcomings,
ap-
propriate
networks
of
organizations
have
to
be
designed,
put
to
work,
developed,
monitored,
adjusted
and
redesigned
continuously.
11.
Networks
of
organizations
to
be
design-
ed,
toiptemented
and
revamped
are
largely
a
*The
views
expressed
in
this
article
are
the
author’s
and
are
not
necessarily
shared
by
any
insti-
tution.
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