Limitations of Planning - How to overcome
Planning provide the basic tools to directing the organization. we use planning to ahieve the goals or objectives. but it has some limitations and you should know the limitations of planning . we later discusss how to overcome this problem. firstly Here simple list of the most common limitations of planning:
1. Very Expensive Process
Planning is the big process so it is very time consuming and you can say money consuming.it may delay certain cases.the expenses on planning is directly proportional to the time spent on planning. if you plan to maintain your budget according the planning process, then result may vary in many cases.
2. Non availability of data
it is major problems on the everywhere you can not find the real data which you want. planning loses its value in absence.and the second problem is when you can not effort too much money for sufficiant information.
3. Inability of planner
Planning is a forward looking process. if a planner has a tendency to follow rather than lead then he can not make a good plans. So you need a good planner.
4. Rigidity
Planning involves the determination of a course of action in advance. It may lead to internal inflexibility and procedural rigidity. For example With the planning a business or organization may achieve certain goals. But this way planning may create rigidity or It locks business into certain goals.
5. Forcasting
Planning has its limitation just as it can not forcast anything . Planning is the roadmap to achieving the certaqins goals. if the forcasts do not turn out to be true, the effectivness of planning is likely to be highly impaired. If authentic figures and information are not available, planning becomes unrealistic.
6. External Factors
External factors are very difficult to predict. some external factors are War, goverment control and polocies, Market slump etc.these may make the implementation of plans very difficult.
7. Less Accurate
Planning and prediction for future work may be a awful work for anyone. Business planning is done by fast, simple and accurate techniques. Inefficient techniques of data collection used by planners cause accuracy problems.
8. Over Ambitious Projections
Sometimes Business owners and professionals set over ambitious projections then reality. Outline a clear vision. Business planning should be based on real facts and it must show a realistic path to targeted goal. Make it real and alive.
9. Top Level Commitment
Everyone know that commitment is essential to success. And true commitment at the top level is the major challenges in business planning process. It gives power to people to make solid decisions within the limitations of planning.
Tips to Overcome planning limitations
it is very difficult to overcome such limitation those are not in your hand but you can tackle them with following tips:
1. The management information system should be properly organised so that relavent information is made available to the planners.
2. The management should give sufficiant time and attaintion to planning. because as we say earlier, it is a long process
3. A definitive target and system of control should be directly associated with planning to ensure that plans are implemented properly.
4. Managers should be prepared to do innovative thinking to increase the efficiancy of planning.
5. A system of forecasting coupled with a keen insight into the dynamics of future environment should be developed.
6. Involving many people in the planning process, to generate a feeling of ownership of the planning process.
After seeing a overview of limitations of planning we take a look at the benefits that can be achieved by an organizatoin with limitation:
with planning you can concentrates on your Objectives:
It provide you a sense of direction
It provides integrated diverse forces at work
It reduce Uncertainty
It improver adaptibility
It improves competitive strength
External Links
1. Wikipedia: Scenario_planning (Scenario planning for flexible long-term plans)