UNIT V
MANAGERIAL CONTROL
Ernest Dale in his book “Theory and Practice of Management” has stated that –
“The modern concept of managerial control envisages a system that not only provides a historical record of what has happened to the business as a whole but also pin points the reasons why it has happened and provides data that enable the chief executive or the departmental head to take corrective steps if he finds he is on the wrong track.”
Further, Koontz, O’Donnell and Weihrich have said-“Controlling as the measurement and correction of the performance of activities of sub-ordinates in order to make sure that enterprise objectives and the plans devised to attain them are being accomplished.”
Therefore, the managerial function of control implies measurement of actual performance comparing it with the standards set by plans and correction of deviations to ensure attainment of objectives according to plans.
Thus, control is an important function of management. It is an essential feature of scientific management. In fact much of the precision of managerial education is focused on the improvement of control techniques. It is generally used for putting restrains over the elements being controlled. In managerial terminology, control is ensuring work accomplishment according to plans. It is a process that guides activity towards some predetermined goals.
Definition:
(1) According to F. E. L. Brech, “Managerial control is checking current performance against pre-determined standards contained in the plans, with a view to ensuring adequate progress and satisfactory performances.”
(2) According to Henri Fayol -“In an undertaking control consists in verifying whether everything occurs in conformity with the plans adopted, the instruction issued and the principle established. Its object is to point out the weakness and error in order to rectify them and prevent occurrence. It operates on everything i.e., things, people and action.”
(3) Dalton E. McFarland has said -“Control in its managerial sense is the presence in a business of that force which guides it to a pre-determined objective by means of pre-determined policies and decision.”
Thus, we see that managerial control is fundamental management function that ensures work accomplishment according to plans. It is concerned with measuring and evaluating performance so as to secure the best results of managerial efforts.
Process of Managerial Control:
The top management initially must decide what elements of the environment and the organisation need to be monitored, evaluated and controlled. The four key areas to be monitored and controlled are – the macro environment, mission and objectives, the industry environment and internal operations.
Step # 1. Key Areas to be Monitored:
I. Macro-Environment:
One of the key areas to be monitored is the macro-environment of the company. This area should be focused first. Normally individual companies cannot influence the environment significantly. But the external environmental forces must be continuously- monitored as the changes in the environment influence the implementation of the plans of the company.
II. Mission and Objectives:
This includes modifying any one or more of the areas like company’s mission, objectives, plans, goals, strategy formulation and implementation. The modification depends upon the nature and degree of changes and shifts in the environment.
III. Industry Environment:
The manager also monitors and controls the industry related environment. The environmental forces may not be as they were planned. The changes in the environment may provide new opportunities or pose new threats. The plan, therefore, should be modified accordingly.
The industry environment of the future should be considered by the top management for the purpose of evaluation and control.
IV. Internal Operations:
The manager has to evaluate the internal operations continuously in view of the changes in the macro-environment and industry environment. The manager has to introduce changes in internal operations when changes in the environment affect the plans.
Step # 2. Establishing Standards:
Evaluating an organisational performance is normally based on certain standards. These standards may be the previous year’s achievements or the competitor’s records or the fresh standards established by the management. Qualitative judgements like the qualitative features of the product or service in the last year may be used.
Quantitative measures like Return on Investment (ROI), Return on sales may also be used for judging the performance. Companies should establish the standards for evaluating the performance of the strategies taking several factors into consideration.
The standards may include:
1. Quality of Products/Services.
2. Quantity of Products to be Produced.
3. Quality of Management.
4. Innovativeness/Creativity.
5. Long-term investment value.
6. Volume of sales and/or market share.
7. Financial soundness in terms of return on investment, return on equity capital, market price of the share, earning per share etc.
8. Community and environmental responsibility in terms of amount spent on community development, variety of facilities provided to the community, programmes undertaken for environmental protection and ecological balance etc.
9. Soundness of human resources management in terms of percentage of employee grievances redressed, employee satisfaction rate, employee turnover rate, industrial relations situation etc.
10. Ability to attract, develop and retain competent and skilled people.
11. Use of company’s assets.
12. Production targets, rate of capacity utilisation, design of new products, new uses of existing products, rate of customer complaints about the product quality, suitability of ingredients etc.
13. Corporate image among the customers and general public.
14. Market place performance.
15. Standards relating to the organisational variables include freedom and autonomy, level of control, responsibility, formal organisation and degree of formality and informal organisation scope for innovation and creativity.
Step # 3. Measuring Performance:
The manager has to measure the performance of various areas of the organisation before taking an action. Performance may be measured through quantitative terms or qualitative terms. Reports and statements help to measure the actual performance through quantitative terms and managerial observations help to measure performance through qualitative terms.
Production, sales, profitability, staff cost etc. can be measured through quantitative terms and quality of the product, employee’s performance, attitude etc. can be measured through qualitative terms.
Step # 4. Compare Performance with Standards:
Once the performance of different aspects of the organisation is measured, it should be compared with the predetermined standards. Standards are set to achieve the already formulated organisational goals and plans. Organisational standards are yardsticks and benchmarks that place organisational performance in perspective.
The manager should set standards for all performance areas of the organisation based on organisational goals and strategies. Normally, the standards vary from one company to the other company. Further, they also vary from time to time in the same company. The standards developed by General Electric Company can be used as model standards.
These standards include:
i. Profitability Standards:
They include how much gross profit, net profit, return on investment, earning per share, percentage of profit to sales, the company should earn in a given time period.
ii. Market Position Standards:
These standards include total sales, sales region-wise and product-wise, market share, marketing costs, customer service, customer satisfaction, price, customer loyalty shifts from or to other organisation’s products etc.
iii. Productivity Standards:
These standards indicate the performance of the organisation in terms of conversion of inputs into output. These standards include capital productivity, labour productivity, material productivity etc.
iv. Product Leadership Standards:
They include the innovations and modifications in products to increase the new uses of the existing product, developing new products with new uses etc.
v. Human Resources Standards:
These standards include providing competitive salaries, benefits and different aspects of quality of work life. They also include human resources performance, productivity, turnover rates, absenteeism rates providing challenging and creative jobs etc.
vi. Employee Attitude Standards:
They include employees’ favourable attitude towards the nature of work, organisation, salaries, benefits, working environment, quality of work life, treatment by superiors etc.
vii. Social Responsibility Standards:
All organisations discharge their responsibilities towards different sections of the society. These standards are related to the services of organisations towards community, government, employees, suppliers, creditors etc.
viii. Standards Reflecting Balance between Short-Range and Long-Range Goals:
Short- range and long-range strategies should be balanced successfully. Standards in these areas should bring balance between these two goals.
Step # 5. Take No Action, if Performance is in Harmony with Standards:
If the performances of various organisational areas match with the standards, the manager need not take any action. He should just allow the process to continue. However, he can try to improve the performance above the standards, if it would be possible, without having any negative impact on the existing process.
Step # 6. Take Corrective Action, if Necessary:
Managers should take necessary corrective action, if performance is not in harmony with standards. If the deviation is positive i.e. performance is above the standards continuously, revises the standards. On the contrary, if performance is below standard, take steps to improve the performance.
The managers compare the performance with standards. If they find any deviation between the standards and performance, they should take corrective action to bridge the gap between the standards and performance.
Causes of Deviations:
It is very easy to conclude that someone made a mistake, when deviations are identified. But the deviations maybe the result of an unexpected move by a competitor, or changes in external environment.
Therefore, the manager should consider the following before making a decision, in this regard:
1. Was the cause of deviation internal or external?
2. Was the cause random, or should it have been anticipated?
3. Is the change temporary or permanent?
4. Are the present plans still appropriate?
5. Does the organisation have the capacity to respond to the change needed?
Corrective Action:
Corrective action may be defined as change in a company’s operations to ensure that it can more effectively and efficiently reach its goals and perform its established standards.
Plans that do not achieve standards produce three possible responses viz.:
(i) To revise plans,
(ii) To change standards and
(iii) To take corrective action in the existing process without changing standards and plans.
Change in plans may require a ‘fine tuning’ of the existing strategy or complete changes in plans. If it is realised that the existing standards are unrealistic under the present conditions, the manager should reset the standards taking the existing conditions into consideration.
Corrective action may be as simple as to increase the price or may be as complex as change the chief executive officer. Deviations require re-examination of the company’s mission, objectives, and relationship to its environment, internal strengths, weaknesses and plans.
Key Takeaways:
The management of any organization must develop a control system tailored to its organization's goals and resources. Effective control systems share several common characteristics. These characteristics are as follows:
A focus on critical points: For example, controls are applied where failure cannot be tolerated or where costs cannot exceed a certain amount. The critical points include all the areas of an organization's operations that directly affect the success of its key operations.
Integration into established processes: Controls must function harmoniously within these processes and should not bottleneck operations.
Acceptance by employees: Employee involvement in the design of controls can increase acceptance.
Availability of information when needed: Deadlines, time needed to complete the project, costs associated with the project, and priority needs are apparent in these criteria. Costs are frequently attributed to time shortcomings or failures.
Economic feasibility: Effective control systems answer questions such as, “How much does it cost?” “What will it save?” or “What are the returns on the investment?” In short, comparison of the costs to the benefits ensures that the benefits of controls outweigh the costs.
Accuracy: Effective control systems provide factual information that's useful, reliable, valid, and consistent.
Comprehensibility: Controls must be simple and easy to understand.
Key Takeaways:
Traditional Techniques of Managerial Control
Traditional techniques are those which have been used by the companies for a long time now. These include:
1. Personal Observation:
This is the most traditional method of control. Personal observation is one of those techniques which enables the manager to collect the information as first-hand information.
It also creates a phenomenon of psychological pressure on the employees to perform in such a manner so as to achieve well their objectives as they are aware that they are being observed personally on their job. However, it is a very time-consuming exercise & cannot effectively be used for all kinds of jobs.
2. Statistical Reports:
Statistical reports can be defined as an overall analysis of reports and data which is used in the form of averages, percentage, ratios, correlation, etc., present useful information to the managers regarding the performance of the organization in various areas.
This type of useful information when presented in the various forms like charts, graphs, tables, etc., enables the managers to read them more easily & allow a comparison to be made with performance in previous periods & also with the benchmarks.
3. Break-even Analysis:
Breakeven analysis is a technique used by managers to study the relationship between costs, volume & profits. It determines the overall picture of probable profit & losses at different levels of activity while analyzing the overall position.
The sales volume at which there is no profit, no loss is known as the breakeven point. There is no profit or no loss. Breakeven point can be calculated with the help of the following formula:
Breakeven point = Fixed Costs/Selling price per unit – variable costs per unit
4. Budgetary Control:
Budgetary control can be defined as such technique of managerial control in which all operations which are necessary to be performed are executed in such a manner so as to perform and plan in advance in the form of budgets & actual results are compared with budgetary standards.
Therefore, the budget can be defined as a quantitative statement prepared for a definite future period of time for the purpose of obtaining a given objective. It is also a statement which reflects the policy of that particular period. The common types of budgets used by an organization.
Some of the types of budgets prepared by an organisation are as follows,
Sales budget: A statement of what an organization expects to sell in terms of quantity as well as value
Production budget: A statement of what an organization plans to produce in the budgeted period
Material budget: A statement of estimated quantity & cost of materials required for production
Cash budget: Anticipated cash inflows & outflows for the budgeted period
Capital budget: Estimated spending on major long-term assets like a new factory or major equipment
Research & development budget: Estimated spending for the development or refinement of products & processes
Modern Techniques of Managerial Control:
Modern techniques of controlling are those which are of recent origin & are comparatively new in management literature. These techniques provide a refreshingly new thinking on the ways in which various aspects of an organization can be controlled. These include:
1. Return on Investment:
Return on investment (ROI) can be defined as one of the important and useful techniques. It provides the basics and guides for measuring whether or not invested capital has been used effectively for generating a reasonable amount of return. ROI can be used to measure the overall performance of an organization or of its individual departments or divisions. It can be calculated as under-
Net income before or after tax may be used for making comparisons. Total investment includes both working as well as fixed capital invested in the business.
2. Ratio Analysis:
The most commonly used ratios used by organizations can be classified into the following categories:
3. Responsibility Accounting:
Responsibility accounting can be defined as a system of accounting in which overall involvement of different sections, divisions & departments of an organization are set up as ‘Responsibility centers’. The head of the center is responsible for achieving the target set for his center. Responsibility centers may be of the following types:
4. Management Audit:
Management audit refers to a systematic appraisal of the overall performance of the management of an organization. The purpose is to review the efficiency &n effectiveness of management & to improve its performance in future periods.
5. PERT & CPM:
PERT (programmed evaluation & review technique) & CPM (critical path method) are important network techniques useful in planning & controlling. These techniques, therefore, help in performing various functions of management like planning; scheduling & implementing time-bound projects involving the performance of a variety of complex, diverse & interrelated activities.
Therefore, these techniques are so interrelated and deal with such factors as time scheduling & resources allocation for these activities.
Key Takeaways:
References:
