In the new globalised economy in which uncertainty and change is continuous, planning is no longer a guarantee of long‐term survival. In fact, traditional planning is likely to turn an organisation into a dinosaur because by its very nature it lays down sets of actions based on what has been or is currently happening rather than future circumstances. To survive, organisations must develop agility and core strengths to allow rapid responses to continuous and sudden changes in the globalised business landscape. Rather than developing 5‐, 10‐ and 20‐year business plans, organisations should establish flexible management structures, use the latest technologies, and develop in all their staff key skills and the ability to deal with continuous change. Virtual organisations are one such response to this new business environment. They exist only for the sustainable length of a project, after which they can be modified, restructured or reinvented to suit changing market imperatives. They are an agile and responsive solution to the inertia that exists in ‘planned organisations’. These are the politically correct control methods of the modern, profit‐maximising company.

QUESTION

Given the rate of change in organisational environments, how far should planning go? Can the planning process actually impede our ability to respond to changes? Why or why not?