Interactive planning is a concept developed by Russell L. Ackoff, an American theorist, early proponent of the field of operations research and recognized as the pioneer in systems thinking. Interactive planning forwards the idea that in order to arrive at a desirable future, one has to create a desirable present and create ways and means to resemble it. One of its unique features is that development should be ideal-oriented. Interactive planning is unlike other types of planning such as reactive planning, inactive planning, and preactive planning.
This is because interactive planning is focused on systems thinking and is "based on the belief that an organization's future depends at least as much on what it does between now and then, as on what is done to it." The organization will then create its future by continuously closing the gap between its current state and its desirable current state. The overall result of a case-based approach conducted by Haftor suggests that IP is a powerful methodology in guiding organizational development.
Interactive planning (IP) is a procedure that prescribes how to develop and manage social systems, e.g. organizations, whether they are business or any other kind. Ackoff (1981) expresses the intention of IP in the following terms: "The objective of interactive planning is an effective pursuit of an idealized state. The state is formulated as a design of that system with which the current system's stakeholders would replace it if they were free to do so. Such a system should be technologically feasible and operationally viable, and it should provide the system with an ability to learn and adapt quickly and effectively."
Interactive planning promotes democratic control by allowing and facilitating the active participation of various stakeholders in the conceptualization and formulation of programs, projects, strategies and techniques. This empowering shift affords the stakeholders to become committed, engaged and grounded decision-makers. Interactive planning, therefore, according to Zeynep Ocak, "expands participants’ conception of what is possible and reveals that the biggest obstructions to achieving the future most desired are often self-imposed constraints”"
Interactive planning also promotes ownership and hence enables the active engagement of stakeholders. It helps map the organization's current standing vis-à-vis its desired future state. As such, interactive planning enables the organization and its members to be reflexive and self-critical in its process of unfolding and becoming. This “interactive and interpretative process” is the essence of “collaborative planning”.
This method makes the plan itself an indispensable resource of the organization because of its groundedness and correspondence with the organization's building blocks, namely its policies, human capital, technologies and financial resources, among others. As a living document, it serves as a built-in mechanism to forge dialogue and discussion among the internal and external stakeholders of the organization. Interactive planning seeks to “facilitate exchange of knowledge between stakeholders, consensus building among them, and group-learning processes.”
This collaborative approach in planning apprehends problems as interrelated realities and hence are not viewed as mutually exclusive. Considering the strong Systems Thinking influence in interactive planning, problems are viewed in their totality and in the context of their specific details in relation to the social environment where they are situated.
Interactive planning has three unique characteristics:Ackoff, Russell L. Re-creating the corporation: A design of organizations for the 21st century. New York:Oxford University Press, 1999. Interactive planning works backwards from where an organization wants to be now to where it is now. Interactive planning is continuous; it does not start and stop. Interactive planning lets the organization's stakeholders to be involved in the planning process.
Interactive planning has six phases, divided into two parts: Idealization and Realization.
Idealisation
Formulating the mess This is the process of understanding the organization's current state, capabilities, and changes necessary for improvement. To adequately begin formulating the mess, great effort must be taken to understand and learn about the current state of an organization and its environment. This can be called the "state of the organization or situational analysis." Formulating the mess by understanding the state of the organization and by creating a reference projection will enable the organization to "control or influence" its future. This essentially involves appreciating the situation in-depth. This phase is about comprehensively understanding the organization from possible factors that effect its functioning, impinge upon its effectiveness and efficiency, and influences its future direction. According to Ackoff, in the past, situation analysis consisted of identifying the individual problems confronting an organization and classifying these problems as threats and opportunities, prioritizing them, and then focusing the planning in a way that reflected the priorities set on these elements. By the 1970s, planners began to realize that reality does not consist of sets of independent problems, but a system of interacting problems. Therefore, by dealing with any one problem separately, we ignore the fact that the solution to that problem will interact with other problems. So it became necessary to find a way of formulating reality as a system rather than as a set of independent problems. We call such a system a "mess." One of the characteristics of interactive planning is a methodology for formulating messes and treating them through design.
There are four elements in formulating the "mess" during the Interactive Planning process: Systems Analysis, Obstruction Analysis, Reference Projection, and Reference Scenario.
The State of the Organization (i.e. Systems Analysis) provides a detailed description of what the organization currently does. It can be illustrated by flow charts; identification of rules and customs practiced by the organization; disclosure of internal and external conflicts which affect organization performance; and identifying trends that could affect organization performance if it continued on the same behavioral pattern by failing to adapt to the constant changes in the environment.
The progress of an organization may be hindered or disrupted by discrepancies, as well as conflicts present which is the theme of obstruction analysis. This may be conflicts between individual members within the organization, availability of resources, or other existing conflicts.
By beginning to analyze the current operation of the system (State of the Organization), elements that obstruct progress become evidently visible in creating a reference projection.
A reference projection is a projection of the future of the organization based on two false assumptions: There will be no change in the organization's behavior. The relevant future predicted by the organization is complete and correct. The reference projection should be formed based on the critical success factors of the organization that will lead to its destruction in its projected future. This method of analysis (a reference projection) will produce "how and why the organization will destroy itself." Critical success factors could include an organization's expenses, revenues, return on investments, and safety records. In all instances, the reference projection should sufficiently illustrate the future of the organization if it did not change its behavior. In this sense the reference projection provides a means to identify potential limiting business strategies and suggest ways to avoid serious future failures.
The implications rooting from systems analysis, obstruction analysis, and reference projection combined are concluded in reference scenario; for organizational members to comprehend the ramifications projected in the organization and collaborate on building the necessary changes.
Ends planning This is the process of defining what the organization desires to be at the present state, and identifying gaps between the desired present and the current reference projections of the organization. This process is achieved by making explicit exactly what is wanted by an organization. In an organization three specific types of ends are ideals, objectives, and goals. This seeks to work towards identifying the end state that needs to be pursued. Ideals like certain limits in mathematical formulas can be approached endlessly but can never be reached. Therefore, the gaps between the current state of the organization and an ideal can be reached. Objectives are a type of ends that can only be attainable in the long run. Goals are a type of ends that can only be attainable in the short run.
There are three components to achieve Ends Planning: Idealized design: an ideal design by organizational designers which is viable, feasible, malleable, adaptable, controllable and accessible for improvement Design of Management Systems Organizational Design
The identification of participants in Ends Planning necessitates that it is composed of individuals who are immersed in the project/program, "diverse in thought and in gender", "capable of thinking outside the box" and appreciative of the role of research and development (R&D) in organizational development.
Implementation and Control of Interactive Planning Methodology From Ocak (2015), Interactive Planning Methodology includes the identification of the Five Key Factors that can significantly influence the success of implementation of the new system redesign. This phase identifies the accountability of the what, when, where and how that will make the new system redesign a realization. Human Factor is one of the important aspects for ensuring success in the process of interactive planning. This recognizes the people involved in the realization of the idealized system redesign. Organizational Factor acknowledges the fact that in making a change in an organization, it would require the support of management in all levels. This means that in the whole process of the interactive planning management should be involved and engaged in participation. Work Factor suggests that in any change in the way people work, it would require an effort of constant interaction with people to keep the whole organization on board. This will not only ensure the success of the system redesign, but it will also give opportunities for enhancement that lead to the reinforcement of the plan. Technology Factor is an important tool to utilize for communicating or aligning the initiatives of the plan. Online platforms trigger collaborations and provide an organized way of disseminating information. Commitment Factor differentiates people from the organization that are committed to the cause and those that are just compliant. This factor suggests that in principle, all of the people involved in the interactive planning process can influence the way the plan will be implemented.
According to Ocak (2015), this last phase in the Interactive Planning Methodology can be characterized by design controls as it is being implemented and activated. Crucial tasks should be time bound and tagged to a specific working group. These tasks can be specified in terms of the action item to be done and the method of doing it . A regular update of these tasks is necessary to ensure movement and properly address hurdles as it comes up. All these can ensure the efficient activation of the interactive planning process.
Evaluation of Interactive Planning Methodology