Introduction to Planning

The Planning Cycle

Why Do People Avoid Planning?

• Organisational Problems:
  
  • Poor reward structures
    Where an organisation assumes success, it will often fail to reward it. Where failure occurs, then it may is punished in lack of promotion or redundancy. This often results in a situation where it is better for an individual to do nothing (and not draw attention) than risk trying to achieve something, fail and be punished.
  • Fire-fighting
    An organisation can be so deeply embroiled in crisis management and fire-fighting that it simply does not have the time to plan.
  • The 'get stuck in' culture
    An organisation may oppose planning as a waste of time. This may be the case where either the organisation is doing a very simple job, or where managers are so experienced in a job that they do not appreciate that they are planning. The approach cripples inexperienced staff by denying them the benefits of planning, and puts more load on experienced managers.
  • Opposition to Time & Expense of Planning
    Time spent on planning is an investment. Some organisations are culturally opposed to spending resources. Sometimes this may be appropriate, but often this is short-sighted.

• Individual Avoidance of Planning
  Where people are resistant to planning, this can result from:
  • Laziness
    People may simply not be bothered to devote the time to thinking a plan through.
  • Lack of Commitment and Resistance to Change
    The individuals may be not see the benefits of the planning process, may believe that there is no need to plan, or may perceive that things are OK as they stand.
  • Fear of Failure
    By not taking action there is little risk of failure unless a problem is urgent and pressing. Whenever something worthwhile is attempted there is some risk of failure.
  • Experience
    As individuals amass experience they may find that they rely less and less on formalised planning. This may be appropriate. It is easy, however, to be overconfident and overestimate experience - forethought is rarely wasted and is often the mark of professionalism.

• Poor Experience of Planning
  People may have had a previous bad experience with planning, where plans have been long, cumbersome, impractical or inflexible. Planning, like anything, can be done badly. Done properly it can be highly beneficial.