Multiple-level organizational planning includes strategic decision making at the corporate-level ("what business are we in ?"), business-level ("how the firm will compete?"), and operating level ("what actions will be taken at individual functional level, i.e., logistic, R&D, and sales?").

Plans that outline the major goals of an organization are the strategic plans. Tactical plans involve managerial actions for short-and medium-term that deal with either emerging opportunity or threats. Operating plans specify goals, actions, and responsibility for individual functions. Unit plans are made within departments, functions, work teams, or for individuals.

Single-use plans address unique events that do not reoccur, while standing plans handle frequently reoccurring events (daily operating procedures and policies). Contingency plans are formed to address possible unexpected or anticipated events such as with crisis management and scenario plans.

A strategic planning system is first developed by identifying the organization's mission (purpose), vision (desired future state), values (shared philosophical priorities), and goals. A SWOT analysis is then performed and implemented into action plans (precise strategy plans). Concurrent collaboration feedback, periodic reviewing, and evaluation control measures are exercised and plans adjusted when necessary.

Many factors can undermine best-effort planning. Managers can avoid common planning pitfalls by setting appropriate, reachable goals, properly implementing plans, questioning assumptions, setting up appropriate structures: de-centralized decision-making structures rather than restrictive centralized structures, and anticipating competitor actions.

Because time is scarce and information gathering is costly, managers satisfice (settle for a good enough solution) and act under bounded rationality (limited human ability). Additionally, the 80-20 rule (80 percent of consequences stem from 20 percent of causes) applies to rational resource allocation decisions. Managers can avoid poor decisions by reducing common errors such as cognitive biases, prior hypothesis bias, escalating commitment, analogy reasoning, illusion of control, representativeness, and availability error.