Planning

Planning is the means by which organizations seek to achieve goals, objectives, and tasks in a stable, [Page 317]known, or predictable environment. To some extent, planning can be seen as the antithesis to strategy, which is the means by which organizations seek to achieve goals, objectives, and tasks in an unstable, unknown, or unpredictable environment. For this reason, some management commentators (e.g., Henry Mintzberg) consider planning and strategy as essentially separate endeavors and that attempts to blend them (as in strategic planning) will generally result in unstable plans and poor strategies.