7. 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.

Vocabulary

to tend	стремиться
to measure	измерять
relative	относительный, родственный, смежный
to adjust	приспособлять
deviation	отклонение
to occur	случаться
to affect	действовать
step	шаг
measurement	измерение
proper	свойственный
monitor	наставник, советчик
record	запись
to compare	сравнивать
link	звено
attainable	достижимый
efficiency	эффективность, способность
sufficient	достаточный
improvement	усовершенствование
to increase	увеличивать
statement	заявление
to praise	хвалить
reject	уцененный товар, брак
burden	ноша, бремя
to justify	подтверждать
to elaborate	тщательно разрабатывать
exception	исключение
trivial	банальный
significant	существенный
feedback	обратная связь

1. Ответьте на вопросы.

1. What is controlling?

2. Is the control function the heart of the management system or the head of the management system?

3. Why is employee performance appraisal the most important and challenging feedback control technique?

4. How can a top-level manager get to know that organization controls are ineffective?

5. Is establishing and maintaining a standard cost accounting system time-consuming and expensive undertaking?

6. How can an organization develop an effective selection and placement program?

2. Переведите предложения.

1. The standards guiding ongoing activity are derived from job descriptions and from policies resulting from the planning function.

2. Corrective action is directed at improving either the resource acquisition process or the actual operations.

3. Direction follows the formal chain of command, since the responsibility of each superior is to interpret for subordinates the orders received from higher levels.

4. Many managers have assumed that their directives were straightforward and to the point, only to discover that their subordinates failed to understand or to accept them as legitimate.

5. But unlike preliminary and concurrent control, the focus of corrective action is not that for which the standard is set-output.

3. Вставьте соответствующий глагол в нужной грамматической форме:

to perform, to ensure, to meet, to consist, to conform, to compare, to enable, to provide, to vary

1. Human resources must_________the job requirements as defined by the organization. Employees must have the physical and intellectual capabilities___________assigned task.

2. The raw material that is converted into a finished product must_________to standards of quality. At the same time, a sufficient inventory must be maintained ___________ a continuous flow__________ customer demands.

3. Concurrent control__________primarily of actions of supervisors who direct the work of their subordinates.

4. The scope and content of the direction phase _______ according to the work being supervised, as noted earlier.

5. A detailed analysis of the financial statements' information__________management to determine the adequacy of the firm's earning power and its ability to_______current and long term obligations.

4. Расположите данные предложения в порядке их появления в тексте.

1. This report is designed to measure sick leave.

2. When you started your improvement plan last year, you ran two miles a day.

3. The control function involves measuring performance relative to objectives and standards and taking corrective actions when necessary.

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

5. Most managers have seen, for example, elaborate accident reports that took hours of man­agement time and that reported: “All is well”.

6. One key to making control systems work is the establishment of clear procedures for monitoring performance.