This literature review seeks to provide an assessment of the current status of formal, institution-wide planning in higher education. It offers an overview of the roots and assumptions underlying the conduct of planning; summarizes higher education's experience with formal planning; and offers insights into factors that may limit its effectiveness, including the nature of the organizational contexts within which planning takes place and the problems involved in predicting critical events affecting institutional well-being. The review examines basic world views that affect perceptions of the feasibility of planning and describes implications that various theories of organizational behavior hold for planning. It traces the development of formal planning concepts, and examines literature regarding the feasibility of planning from both theoretical and practical perspectives. A series of conclusions and implications are presented, which answer such questions as "can planning help reconcile the need for collective action with the values of professional autonomy?" and "should planning approaches vary according to institutional circumstances?" Approximately 120 references are appended. (JDD)