Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Foundations of Control - Coggle Diagram
Foundations of Control
What do managers measure?
What managers measure is probably more important to the control process than how they measure.
Why? The selection of the wrong criteria in the end can lead to very bad consequences.
What managers measure usually depends on what the organization does.
The preference is for objective, quantifiable activities; because they are easy to count and compare. For example, absenteeism, costs savings, production, sales, contact with organization users (a.k.a. customers), etc.
Most jobs and activities can be expressed in tangible and measurable terms.
However, when a performance indicator can not be stated in quantifiable terms, managers should look for and use subjective measures.
Although subjective measures have their limits, they are better than no standards and ignoring the control function.
If the information shows a manager that performance problems exist, then the manager should
take some sort of action
.
The possibilities exist. They are:
Do nothing.
Correct the actual performance.
Change the standards.
“Do nothing”
is self-explanatory.
As for
correct the actual performance
,
the best course of action which a manager can take first is to study the issue. Find out why and how the problem exists. Finding out why and how might require extra time, but in the long term could be best for the organization.
After finding out the why and how, the manager should decide what is the best corrective action. It could be as simple as explaining the problem to the employee or as harsh as firing them.
As for
changing the standards
,
this action usually is best when everyone’s performance seems to be very good or very bad.
If everyone is very good, performance expectations might be too low.
If everyone is very bad, performance expectations might be too high. However, in this case, be careful. The problem might be something else, i.e. employees conspiring to do as little work as possible.
What should managers control?
That is a good question and the answer is not always easy.
How to answer this question depends greatly on the organization’s purpose, goals, and processes.
Answering the question becomes much easier if a manager knows when controls should be used.
The types of controls that a manager should use often depends on the
timing
of the problems that a manager needs to resolve.
The three types of control
(based on timing):
Feed-forward control,
Concurrent control,
Feedback control.
Feed-forward Control:
This type anticipates and prevents problems since it takes place before the actual activity, making its use highly desirable.
The key to their use is taking managerial action before a problem occurs and thus prevent any potential damage.
However, Feed-forward control requires both accurate and timely information in order to be used successfully.
Unfortunately, such information often is very difficult to get. Therefore, managers usually rely on the other types of control.
Concurrent Control:
This type of control takes place while a work activity in in progress.
Many organizational quality programs rely on concurrent control to inform workers whether their work output is good enough to meet standards.
The best known form of concurrent control is direct supervision.
All managers can benefit from concurrent control, because it can allow them to correct problems before they become too costly.
“Management By Walking Around” is a good example of concurrent control.
Feedback Control:
This type of control takes place after the activity is done. It is the most popular type.
This type of control has one major drawback. By the time a manager has the information about a problem, the problem already has occurred, leading to damage and waste.
Feedback control has
two advantages:
Feedback gives managers meaningful information about the effectiveness of their planning efforts.
Feedback can enhance motivation. People want to know how well they are doing and feedback provides that information.
Of course, all managers would like to mainly use Feed-forward control, because it reduces costs and waste for the organization.
However, implementing correct and useful Feed-forward control is difficult. In most cases, managers often rely on a combination of all three types of control.