Introduction Planning in organizations has become an important process that has aided many organizations in creating desired goal and formulating appropriate steps towards attaining them. In organizations today, planning of operations has continually become a norm. In essence, every working effort carried out by organizations today is carefully planned for. This begins from delivering, designing and creating new systems of information management to construction of new buildings. It is imperative to note that the process of planning is indeed a complicated undertaking and largely relies on the size and level of operations of organizations. Upton, Teal and Felan (2001) posit that in order for organizations to achieve desired outcomes towards implementing organizational change or designing projects, there is dire need of develop formal procedures on the nature of strategies to follow in addition to objectives and frequency of meetings to attend. Furthermore, successful deliveries of the aforementioned factors will largely depend on prior planning and prioritizing of activities that a firm has. According to the analysis presented in this paper, planning plays a very crucial role of aiding organizations to recognize hidden opportunities, forecasting the future and also avoiding mistakes. This paper takes a look at the various types and levels of planning that can be executed in organizations. Levels of planning Planning is a critical component that is carried out in three distinct levels namely functional, business and corporate levels. Shelett (2002) indicates that many organizations formulate strategies in either one or both of the mentioned levels, but ensure that the plans they set for each level are aligned to ensure that the efforts to achieve them are done in maximum unity. She adds that ineffective corporate strategies and cross-purposed functions are attributes of lack of alignment of departments in an organization. While all the three levels of planning are unique both in terms of their applications and objectives, it is worth noting that some organizational managements do fail to create their differences. Each of the three levels is discussed below. Corporate level An organization’s overall strategic direction is normally planned at the corporate level. Planning at the corporate level as Kuye and Oghojafor (2011) point out is carried out by a senior leadership within an organization. This explains why this level of planning is usually referred to as a grand strategy bearing in mind that it constitutes that level of decision making which dictates the activities of all the other levels. A leader in this case provides a mission and a vision which is duly needed in the organization towards accomplishing the set goals and objectives. Besides, Sharma, Boo and Sharma (2008) argue that at the corporate level, planning involves identification and a robust analysis of a myriad of strategic options and core competencies which focuses on a future operating environment. This implies that the corporate level of planning is indeed necessary and may not be ignored at all during the entire lifetime of an organization. Business level At business level, Anderson and Joglekar (2005) posit that all businesses enterprises can be categorized under specific organizations that wo