Fundamentals of Management, 11/e

What Are Some Criticisms of Formal Planning and How Should Managers Respond?

It makes sense for an organization to establish goals and direction, but critics have challenged some of the basic assumptions of planning.4

• Criticism: Planning may create rigidity. Formal planning efforts can lock an organization into specific goals to be achieved within specific timetables. Such goals may have been set under the assumption that the environment wouldn’t change. Forcing a course of action when the environment is random and unpredictable can be a recipe for disaster.

  • Manager’s Response: Managers need to remain flexible and not be tied to a course of action simply because it’s the plan.

• Criticism: Formal plans can’t replace intuition and creativity. ...