For the attainment of the desired objectives, organisations make plans. Planning is an essential activity for any organisation and sets the basis for its functioning. However, sometimes the things do not go as per the plan. Unforeseen changes in the business environment often dampen the plans of the organisation. Moreover, the process of planning has its own limitations that hinder the accomplishment of all the objectives of an organisation. Following are some of the limitations of planning which may result in the abandoning of the organisational objectives.

(i) Rigidness: Planning is rigid in nature. Once a plan regarding the objectives to be achieved and the course of action to be followed is formulated, the manager may not be able to change it. Such rigidity creates hurdles at times of unforeseen changes. At times of unexpected changes, the managers may require certain degree of flexibility so as to cope with the changes in an appropriate manner. Thus, rigidity in plans sometimes creates obstacles in the completion of the objectives.

(ii) Cannot Deal with Dynamic Environment: Business environment is dynamic and thereby, very uncertain. However, planning cannot foresee such changes and fails at times of changes and uncertainties. This may lead to failure in the accomplishment of objectives. An organisation must adapt its functioning to the changing environment.

(iii) Gigantic Costs: Formulation of plans involves huge costs in terms of time and money. As planning is based on future predictions, it requires a lot of thinking and analysing. It involves scientific calculations along with the figures and the facts, which are to be used in formulating the course of action. This involves high costs. Moreover, sometimes it might also happen that the benefits derived from planning fall short of the costs incurred.

(iv) False Security: Good planning does not mean a guarantee to success. Often the mangers tend to rely on pretested plans that have worked well in the past. However, it is not always true that if a plan had worked well in the past, it will also be successful in the future. Many unforeseen changes may crop up that may fail the plan. Sometimes managers think that planning can prevent the problems from occurring, however, they neglect the fact that planning just provides a base for predicting the future. It does not give straight away solutions to the problems.

(v) Time Consuming: Formulating plans is a very time consuming task, as it involves looking forward in the unforeseen situations. It involves a lot of research and evaluation. This increases the time consumed by the managers and the actual actions may get delayed.