Organisations that fail to plan are planning to fail
”Organisations that fail to plan are planning to fail”. Critically discuss this statement.
The quotation “he who fails to plan is planning to fail” was originally stated by Winston
Churchill, a politician and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, during the World War II.
The Oxford dictionary generally defines plan as “a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something”. In term of management, planning set out an organisation’s objectives and how those objectives could be achieved. Furthermore, planning can be either formal or informal. In formal planning, the time period is included along with written objectives that are distributed internally, whereas informal planning is concerned with little to no written materials (Robbins et al. 2014). Nevertheless, when the term planning is being used, it is often referred to as formal planning. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the controversial effects of formal planning on the performances of firms that were evidenced in a range of empirical studies, the influence it has on newly established ventures and its applicability at the times of environmental uncertainty.
Camillus (1975) states that “companies that plan formally perform better than those which plan informally”, and he also believes that by formalising plans, the firms’ performances can be improved. An important feature of formal planning is strategic planning, which is known as “the process managers use to form a vision, analyse their external and internal environments, and select the strategies they will use to create value for stake holders” (Robbins et al. 2014). It was argued that formal strategic planning has a relationship to the financial performances of organisations, and that relationship could be positive. This argument was evidenced by a study conducted by Robert
Arasa and Peter K’Obonyo (2012). The study was taken in Kenya, a developing country, paying extra attention to the strategic planning steps, and it
The quotation “he who fails to plan is planning to fail” was originally stated by Winston
Churchill, a politician and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, during the World War II.
The Oxford dictionary generally defines plan as “a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something”. In term of management, planning set out an organisation’s objectives and how those objectives could be achieved. Furthermore, planning can be either formal or informal. In formal planning, the time period is included along with written objectives that are distributed internally, whereas informal planning is concerned with little to no written materials (Robbins et al. 2014). Nevertheless, when the term planning is being used, it is often referred to as formal planning. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the controversial effects of formal planning on the performances of firms that were evidenced in a range of empirical studies, the influence it has on newly established ventures and its applicability at the times of environmental uncertainty.
Camillus (1975) states that “companies that plan formally perform better than those which plan informally”, and he also believes that by formalising plans, the firms’ performances can be improved. An important feature of formal planning is strategic planning, which is known as “the process managers use to form a vision, analyse their external and internal environments, and select the strategies they will use to create value for stake holders” (Robbins et al. 2014). It was argued that formal strategic planning has a relationship to the financial performances of organisations, and that relationship could be positive. This argument was evidenced by a study conducted by Robert
Arasa and Peter K’Obonyo (2012). The study was taken in Kenya, a developing country, paying extra attention to the strategic planning steps, and it
Bibliography: Ventures? ', Strategic Management Journal, vol. 24, pp. 1165-85.