Limitations of planning are:
(i) Planning leads to rigidity.
(ii) Planning may not work in a dynamic environment.
(iii) Planning reduces creativity.
(iv) Planning involves huge costs.
(v) Planning is a time consuming process.
(vi) Planning does not guarantee success.
Detailed Answer:
(i) Planning leads to rigidity: In an organisation, a well-defined plan is drawn up with specific goals to be achieved within a specific time frame. These plans then decide the future course of action and managers may not be in a position to change it. This kind of rigidity in plans may create difficulty. Managers need to be given some flexibility to be able to cope with the changed circumstances. Following a pre-decided plan, when circumstances have changed, may not turn out to be in the organisations interest.
(ii) Planning may not work in a dynamic environment: The business environment is dynamic, nothing is constant. The environment consists of a number of dimensions, economic, political, physical, legal and social dimensions. The organisation has to constantly adapt itself to changes. It becomes difficult to accurately assess future trends in the environment if economic policies are modified or political conditions in the country are not stable or there is a natural calamity.
(iii) Planning reduces creativity: Planning is an activity which is done by the top management. Usually, the rest of the members just implement these plans. As a consequence, middle management and other decision makers are neither allowed to deviate from plans nor are they permitted to act on their own. Thus, much of the initiative or creativity inherent in them also gets lost or reduced. Thus, planning in a way reduces creativity since people tend to think along the same lines as others. There is nothing new or innovative.
(iv) Planning involves huge costs: When plans are drawn up huge costs are involved in their formulation. These may be in terms of time and money. For example, Checking accuracy of facts may involve lot of time. Detailed plans require scientific calculations to ascertain facts and figures. The costs incurred sometimes may not justify the benefits derived from the plans. There are a number of incidental costs as well, like expenses on boardroom meetings, discussions with professional experts and preliminary investigations to find out the viability of the plan.
(v) Planning is a time-consuming process: Sometimes plans to be drawn up take so much of time that there is not much time left for their implementation.
(vi) Planning does not guarantee success: The success of an enterprise is possible only when plans are properly drawn up and implemented. Any plan needs to be translated into action or it becomes meaningless. Managers have a tendency to rely on previously tried and tested successful plans. It is not always true that just because a plan has worked before it will work again.
