Planning is deciding the best alternatives among others to perform different mana

gerial operations in order to achieve the pre-determined goals.

H. Fayol
"Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve
them; it requires decision making, which is choosing from among alternative futu
re courses of action."
Weihrich and Koontz
The process of setting goals, developing strategies, and outlining tasks and sch
edules to accomplish the goals.