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1. What Is Controlling and Why Is It Important?
Controlling is the process ofmonitoring, comparing, and correcting work
performance. All managers should controleven if their units are performing as
planned because they can’t really know that unless they’ve evaluated what
activities have been done and compared actual performance against the desired
standard. Effective controls ensure that activities are completed in ways that lead
to the attainment of goals. Whether controls are effective, then, is determined by
how well they help employees and managers achieve their goals.
Why is control so important? Planning can be done, an organizational structure
created to facilitate efficient achievement of goals, and employees motivated
through effective leadership. But there’s no assurance that activities are going as
planned and that the goals employees and managers are working toward are, in
fact, being attained. Control is important, therefore, because it’s the only way
that managers know whether organizational goals are being met and if not, the
reasons why. The value of the control function can be seen in three specific
areas: planning, empowering employees, and protecting the workplace.
Describe Controlling Process
How To Measure Performance Of Employees
The controlprocess is a three-step process ofmeasuring actual performance,
comparing actual performance against a standard, and taking managerial action
to correct deviations or to address inadequate standards. (See Exhibit 18-2.) The
control process assumes that performance standards already exist, and they do.
They’re the specific goals created during the planning process.
Step 1. Measuring Actual Performance

2. To determine what actual performance is, a manager must first get information
about it.
Thus, the first step in controlis measuring.
HOW WE MEASURE. Four approaches used by managers to measure and
report actual performance are personal observations, statistical reports, oral
reports, and written reports. The table below summarizes the advantages and
drawbacks of each approach. Mostmanagers use a combination of these
approaches.
WHAT WE MEASURE. What is measured is probably more critical to the
control process than how it’s measured. Why? Because selecting the wrong
criteria can create serious problems. Besides, whatis measured often determines
what employees will do. What control criteria might managers use?
Some control criteria can be used for any management situation. For instance,
all managers deal with people, so criteria such as employee satisfaction or
turnover and absenteeism rates can be measured. Keeping costs within budget is
also a fairly common controlmeasure. Other control criteria should recognize
the different activities that managers supervise. For instance, a manager at a
pizza delivery location might use measures such as number of pizzas delivered
per day, average delivery time, or number of coupons redeemed. A manager in a
governmental agency might use applications typed per day, client requests
completed per hour, or average time to process paperwork.
Most work activities can be expressed in quantifiable terms. However, managers
should use subjective measures when they can’t. Although such measures may

3. have limitations, they’re better than having no standards at all and doing no
controlling.
If Goals Are Not Suitable, What Should Manager Do?
How Many Types Of Controlling? Which Is The Best & Why?
Feedforward/Concurrent/FeedbackControls
Managers can implement controls beforean activity begins, duringthe time the
activity is going on, and afterthe activity has been completed. The first type is
called feed forward control; the second, concurrent control; and the last,
feedback control.
FEEDFORWARD CONTROL. The most desirable type of control—
feedforward control—prevents problems becauseit takes place before the actual
activity. For instance, when McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Moscow,
it sent company quality control experts to help Russian farmers learn techniques
for growing high-quality potatoes and to help bakers learn processes forbaking
high-quality breads. Why? McDonald’s demands consistent productquality no
matter the geographical location. They want a cheeseburger in Moscowto taste
like one in Omaha. Still another example of feedforward control is the scheduled
preventive maintenance programs on aircraft done by the major airlines. These
programs are designed to detect and hopefully to prevent structural damage that
might lead to an accident.
The key to feedforward controls is taking managerial action before a problem
occurs. That way, problems can be prevented rather than having to correctthem
after any damage (poor-quality products, lost customers, lost revenue, etc.) has
already been done. However, these controls require timely and accurate
information that isn’t always easy to get. Thus, managers frequently end up
using the other two types of control.
CONCURRENT CONTROL. Concurrent control, as its name implies, takes
place while a work activity is in progress. Forinstance, Nicholas Fox is director
of business product management at Google. He and his team keep a watchful
eye on one of Google’s most profitable businesses—online ads. They watch “the
number of searches and clicks, the rate at which users click on ads, the revenue
this generates—everything is tracked hour by hour, compared with the data from
a week earlier and charted.” If they see something that’s not working
particularly well, they fine-tune it.

4. The best-known form of concurrent control is direct supervision. Another term
for it is management by walking around, which is when a manager is in the work
area interacting directly with employees. For example, Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun
Huang tore down his cubicle and replaced it with a conference table so he’s
available to employees at all times to discuss what’s going on. Even GE’s CEO
Jeff Immelt spends 60 percent of his workweek on the road talking to employees
and visiting the company’s numerous locations. All managers can benefit from
using concurrent controlbecause they can correct problems before they become
too costly.
FEEDBACK CONTROL. The most popular type of control relies on feedback.
In feedback control, the control takes place afterthe activity is done. For
instance, the Denver Mint discovered the flawed Wisconsin quarters using
feedback control. The damage had already occurred even though the
organization corrected the problem onceit was discovered. And that’s the major
problem with this type of control. By the time a manager has the information,
the problems have already occurred, leading to waste or damage. However, in
many work areas, financial being one example, feedback is the only viable type
of control.
Feedbackcontrols do have two advantages. First, feedback gives managers
meaningful information on how effective their planning efforts were. Feedback
that shows little variance between standard and actual performance indicates that
the planning was generally on target. If the deviation is significant, a manager
can use that information to formulate new plans. Second, feedbackcan enhance
motivation. People want to know how well they’re doing and feedback provides
that information. Now, let’s look at some specific controltools that managers
can use.