Limitations of planning

Planning is useful, but it does not always work. Its limitations:

• It leads to rigidity: once a plan is fixed, managers may feel they cannot change it, even when circumstances change.
• It may not work in a dynamic environment: government policies, politics, natural calamities and competitors' moves can change suddenly, and no plan can foresee everything.
• It reduces creativity: when only top management plans and everyone else just carries out the plan, others stop thinking of new ideas.
• It involves huge costs: time and money for meetings, experts and research.
• It is time-consuming: there may be little time left to act.
• It does not guarantee success: a plan must still be carried out well. And a plan that worked last year may give a false sense of security; reusing it when conditions have changed can fail.

Still, planning is not a useless exercise. It is a tool, not a guarantee.