Controlling

Often managers get so involved with the planning process and the day-to-day crisis management of the firm that they tend to shortchange the control function. The controlling function involves measuring performance relative to objectives and standards and taking corrective actions when necessary. The control function, therefore, is the heart of the management system because it provides the feedback that enables managers and workers to adjust to any deviations from plans and to changes that have occurred in the environment that have affected performance.

Let's say you are a runner and you say you want to "improve" your distance. When you started your improvement plan last year, you ran two miles a day. Now you run 2.1 miles a day. Did you meet your goal? Well, you did increase your distance, but certainly not by very much. A more appropriate goal statement would be: To increase running distance from two miles a day to four miles a day by January 1. It is also important to have a time period established when goals are to be met. The following are examples of goals and standards that meet these criteria:

• Cutting the number of finished product rejects from 10 per 1,000 to 5 per 1,000 by March 31.

• Increasing times managers praise employees from 3 times per week to 12 per week.

• Increasing the sales of product X from 10,000 in the month of July to 12,000 in the same period.

One key to making control systems work is the establishment of clear procedures for monitoring performance. Naturally, management should not be burdened with such control procedures unless the goals are important enough to justify such reporting. Most managers have seen, for example, elaborate accident reports that took hours of man­agement time and that reported: "All is well." To minimize paperwork, such reports could be limited to exceptions.

At the University of Maryland, to cite one example, all faculties are required to report daily on whether or not they performed their reg­ular duties. This report is designed to measure sick leave. The paper­work could be cut by 98 percent or better if faculty merely reported sick days rather than every day. Many companies have too much reporting of trivial details and too little reporting of significant performance results.