Definition (1):
Directional plans are flexible plans that set out general guidelines. They provide focus but don’t lock managers into specific goals or courses of action.
Definition (2):
When there is a high possibility of risk and uncertainty, the management must allow flexibility for responding to unwanted changes, it prefers directional plans.
Definition (3):
McCaskey (1974) opposed the traditional styles of planning which necessitates the setting of specific plans or specific goals. According to his opinion, rather than setting fixed measurable goals, the managers should plan more from what they prefer to do and who they are. These forms of plans without goals are called directional plans or plans from thrusts that specify the process’s positive aspects.
Sometimes, the managers use the most satisfying activities and events of the recent past as a device for identifying a direction for them. They try to recognize a pattern from those activities or events describing a direction for them. Objectives appearing along the pattern where the direction is going can become goals. From these goals, one goal can simply be substituted for the other as long as it is lying on the direction’s general path.