preview

Control as a Management Tool

Decent Essays

A manager has several functions in any given establishment or enterprise. These functions of a manager define the manager’s responsibilities and duties in the running of a company. The main function that is of critical importance is one of control. Control is important because it is the only way managers know whether organisational goals are being met and if not, the reasons why.
Control entails setting standards of quality, comparing actual performance with required performance standards and also taking corrective measures to align what is actual and supposed to be in existence.
According to Cole, G. A. (2007) control is essentially a question of developing feedback systems throughout the organization and may be implemented both …show more content…

For a new firm in business as Dynamic Investments Limited should strive to get a true picture about the major indicators that will bring about achievement of the set goals.
The company should be able to identify the quantity and nature of inputs to a process will determine the nature of the outputs which are monitored. The resultant feedback is compared with the objectives. Deviations are controlled by adjusting inputs.

The standard illustration of this depicts a person adjusting his inputs to make the best output. The degree of control is predicated on the nature of the organisation’s activities and management style. Control can be attained whereby there is a high degree of creativity and commitment.

Having analysed the different important details of control that a company can embark on, it is important to relate control to planning, leading and organizing.

Planning involves setting goals and deciding on what course of action, developing rules and procedures, foresighting and projecting. Planning is the most basic element of management because it outlines the plan of action.

Planning and control are related in that they both define how goals are attained. Planning and controlling are two separate functions of management, yet they are closely related. The scope of activities of both are overlapping to each other without the basis of planning, controlling activities become baseless and without controlling, planning becomes a meaningless exercise.

Get Access