The written form of planning

The article examines the influence which the written form of planning, as a conventional regularity, exercises on modern organizations. The author seeks to shed light on the initial function of planning as a boundary of expectations, and compares it to the function of oral promise in earlier societies. The historical evolution of promise is briefly described and the changes in social conditions and the institutional logic which have contributed to the formulation of the written form of planning implemented today within organizations are examined. Interpreting writing as well as modern organizations against the backround of a set of ideas opposed to the "logocentric" tradition (i.e. a tradition established on the belief that our world is composed of entities founded in an ultimate origin), the article describes how written plans, as a structure of signifiers, contribute to the dissemination of a process-oriented rationality.Planning promise rationality writing action system