The Management Control Mechanism
The term 'control' has gotten a bad reputation in management circles, in recent years. Instead, the preferred terms are coordination or cooperation. However, "regardless of the negative connotation of the word 'control'" within any complex organization, some form of control process must exist "or there is no organization at all" (McNamara, 1997). The first concern for a manager is setting goals. Identifying goals require some form of planning, informal or formal. Then, there must be a plan to reach the designated goal, which means creating a strategy. Then, communication and coordination of organization must be marshaled implement the strategy (McNamara, 1997).Control can exist in various forms to facilitate realizing organizational goals. One form of control is gathering information, which can be valuable, but some sense must be made of the data, such as financial reports or performance reviews. "Once the organization has establish goals and associat
Evaluations can focus on many aspects of an organization" (McNamara, 1997). Although the tools at a manager's disposal to instate controls are various, in its most basic form controlling is a four-step process of planning and establishing performance standards based on the firm's objectives, measuring and reporting current performance outcomes, determining how to use resources to meet the new goals, and then taking corrective or preventive action as necessary if standards are not met (Erven, 1994). The evaluation process is usually not just dependant upon the personal whims or desires of managers, but rather "policies are applied to specified situations in the form of procedures" (McNamara, 1997). Delegation ideally deploys different individual strengths of the persons involved in the organization, although it can result in a diffusion of focus. Standards also might be evaluated, such Total Quality Management which involves specifying a performance standard and monitoring and measuring results to meet those standards, which can spur an organization on to excellence, or stifle flexibility (McNamara, 1997). This process is never-ending, but managers must strike a balance between timeliness and flexibility, between too much and too little control over the course of the circular process. ed strategies (or ways to reach the goals), funds are set aside for the resources and labor to the accomplish goals and tasks. To determine whether a strategy worked, evaluations must take place, "carefully collecting and analyzing information in order to make decisions. The more complex the organization, the more delegation is needed. Managers can then turn to internal bureaucratic control over budgets and rules that govern behavior and set performance standards, a strategy has the value of being fair-but also overly rigid, and finally, managers can deploy social control or self-control, by "training and encouraging individuals to take initiative in addressing problems on their own, or part of a group," so the organization can uses self-empowerment and affection for the organization as a form of control (Erven, 1994). Managers will attempt to control the external environment through marketing or advertising, and monitoring external data, although this can be difficult because of the variety of forces that affect the external environment. Managers must also strike a balance between different control strategies or styles which fall into three basic categories-strategies that affect the market, the organization's bureaucracy and social strategy. There are many types of evaluations in organizations, for example, evaluation of marketing efforts, evaluation of employee performance, program evaluations. This motivation may be the most effective strategy-but is also the most difficult to institute and rely upon.
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