Managing the functions of control as an integral part of successful business

Any system cannot exist without consistency and control. Control helps to monitor the process of actions fulfillment and set the system of interaction, subordination and hierarchy. Every manager, regardless his title or status must hold the control as an integral part of his professional responsibilities, even if he is not obliged to do it. Control is a fundamental element of management process. Neither planning, nor the creation of organizational structures, nor motivation can be viewed separately from control. In fact, all the mentioned items are essential parts of control system in an organization, which manufactures a product or produces a service.

Human resources are also the part of control and other stages of management. Hence, while developing a detailed procedure of control a manager has to take daily behavior of employees into account. Behavior of a group or a separate worker shows the level of preparation and right perception of the company’s goal and plans to be realized. It must be mentioned that control has a powerful and direct impact on employees’ behavior. Besides, control must not cause any astonishment. Most managers run the process of control openly and purposely to produce more influence on the workers who, in their turn, will make a lot of efforts to achieve the goals of organization. It works to obtain better qualitative results and to discipline the employees in meeting the deadlines [1].

Strategy in the sphere of control system formation is an important component of company’s business strategy. Due to control we provide integrity of property, detection and mobilization of existing resources in the industry and finances. We create conditions which can raise efficiency of company management. Systems of control, in this or that way, exist in every institution. Control is a process which can guarantee goal achievement of the company. It is necessary for revealing and detection of problems before they become too crucial. Control promotes successful functioning. Managers start running the function of control with the moment when the goals, objectives and the company itself is already created. Control is significant for organization’s successful functioning. The functions of control are such managerial features that help to reveal the problems and change the work until these problems become critical. One of the main reasons for control action is that every organization must be able to detect its failures in time and correct them before they could interfere in aim achievement. The positive characteristic of control is all-round support of all the successful things in the company’s work. In other words, one of the most important aspects of control is definition of effective work spheres of the company. While defining the ups and downs of the company and their reasons we obtain an opportunity to adjust an organization to dynamic requirements of the environment. Control is a crucial and complicated function of management [2].

Control function is an essential part of manager’s work. The information obtained in the process of control becomes the basis for making managerial decisions. All the managerial decisions are made due to the data received after monitoring and scanning which can let us use the well-known information or new one. The given information is designed for certain goals or decisions. Information validity and completeness are the main criteria and requirements that a manager relies on in the process of decision-making.

In scientific literature authors attach importance to the very important managerial function.

Considering control as a type of manager’s work T.I. Shamova points out that “control helps to collect the data about pedagogical processes, take down an on-going deviation from the tasks planned, and prove the fact of teacher’s advanced experience. That is to say, control is the main information source to make a managerial decision”. Control implies detecting deviation between results and well-known goals [3].

M.M. Potashnik and V.S. Lazarev say that with control management obtains a vital advantage, which makes further functioning possible and which is feedback. Control makes management capable of “seeing”, sensitive to changes.

P.I. Tretyakov defines the term of control as “technological professional service in its various forms and methods (ways, means and interaction) provides feedback and is considered to be the most important source of information required for successful functioning of the system”.

M.M. Potashnikin his book «Modern School Management» warns about the harm of control abuse (e.g. the tendency of administrative command system) and its underestimation. In the case of control function underestimation, simply speaking absence of control, there is a decline in company’s work efficiency.

Control function, as well as planning function, serves as the most important means of management centralization from chief executives’ side. Meanwhile, it creates the balance between authority de- and centralization in organizational management. Control quality and efficiency depend on either right goal-setting or content selection or an effective and optimal method, means, procedures, forms chosen by the manager.

Hence, two questions are important here – “What is the subject of control?” and “How will it be realized?” As the number of checking ways is abundant, every system and every process has its own style of running this function. Depending on the goal of checking process certain methods of control are chosen. All the processes and the whole activity can be monitored or processes, departments and concrete employees can be checked selectively. Manager must be able to develop a logical structure and clear action sequence. He must think over its repetition, recurrence and reproducibility. Approaches and goals of control implementation should guide the process. Even a well-planned and well-thought mechanism of control arrangement can be successful to various extents in the end. Failures in work, forging of reports interfere in the process and increase the percent of penalty because of unqualified workers of senior, middle and lower levels.

By means of control a manager receives the data about current events and financial situation of the company. Still, the information obtained as the result of purposeful observation and well-thought control system must be real and objective.

System is a unit consisting of interdependent components and featuring unique qualities (that none of these components have).

In terms of the definition we can view the control system with its separate elements such as: goals, objectives, content of control and its implementation.

While running the control a manager is required to have ability: to set a goal of data collection, its processing, systematization, analysis and assessment. These skills help to make right, reasonable and optimal decisions.

Control often implies a powerful influence on the system behavior. Poorly-designed systems of control may make employees’ behavior self-oriented, that means people will be determined to meet the control requirements but not goal achievement. The form of authority being used is called violent. The biggest disadvantage of this authority form is forging of reports. Also there is certain dependence on the way of control and manager’s indifference. During work realization this form of authority is ineffective and if it is not, so it is not long-lasting [4].

You can avoid the problems connected with influence of system control if you set well-thought usable and accessible standards of control and bilateral connection, evade excessive control and appreciate the achievement. Human behavior is, naturally, not the only factor that determines control efficiency. To realize its’ essential goal (i.e. to guarantee organizational goal achievement) control must feature several important characteristics: strategic direction, certain results orientation, timeliness of implementation, mobility, simplicity and economy to reduce the expenditures on control conduct.

To be effective control is to be integrated with other management functions because this function is realized together with others. Finally control can be called effective as soon as the company achieves the desired aim and is able to formulate new aims that can provide its’ future functioning.

In order to be effective control must correspond to the very controlled kind of activity. It must run objective measurement and assessment of the most important issues. Improper mechanism of control may disguise but not collect mission-critical data.

Control efficiency is proved by its’ timeliness and transparency. Timeliness of control does not mean a high speed or frequency of control conduct. It means a time period between the moment of measurement and assessment which is relevant for the case study. The meaning of the most important time period of such kind is defined within the limits of the main plan, volatility and expenses on measurement and data distribution. Control transparency influences the quality of work. If a worker is sure in control procedure, so he will do his job properly. Control transparency and timeliness prevent the company from serious problems and crisis. In large corporations where there is a big volume of production systematic monitoring and daily checkups are an integral part of control. Inspectors share the field of operations and follow the succession and details of every procedure. Hence, it decreases the percent of flaws and improves the quality of product and work. The whole groups of inspectors with special qualifications are entitled to check considerable volume of production.

Moreover, the most important goal of control is elimination of errors before they may cause any danger. The system of effective control is a system which provides people with necessary information before the crisis starts. The processes of control and monitoring always occur in all big corporations. Monitoring is held to prevent heavy losses and suspension of production. Every worker deals with control conduct which serves as infraction detector.

Production quality (including novelty, technical level, procedural perfection and reliability of use)is one of the main means of competition, achievement and maintenance of status in the market. That is why firms pay too much attention to high quality of production while holding control at every production level. They start with controlling the material quality and complete with defining correspondence of product to technical characteristics and parameters not only during the experiment but also during the operation. For complicated types of equipment certain guarantee period is given after the installation at customer’s plant. Production inspection has become a part of manufacturing and is designed for both error or infraction detection and quality system audits.

Company’s quality control refers to the central office of quality monitoring. The office is responsible for qualitative data about all the types of products, methods of checking the quality and test routine, claim analysis (e.g. complaints, resentment) and the order of their resolution, identification of reasons for infractions and errors and conditions for their elimination. One of the main functions of central office is work planning and management in quality aspect sphere, developing the connection between the quality audit agencies in the industrial units of the organization. Management is an essential part of control system because empowerment (giving the tasks and responsibilities to lower-level workers), duties (limited right to use the resources of the company), responsibility (obligation to do different types of work) impact the way of work. Malfunctioning employees may cause infractions and lack of special skills and qualifications prolong the aim achievement the result of which would decrease the product quality and increase economic losses.

Hence, control should provide the audit of managerial decisions fulfillment on all levels of authority and compliance of laws and terms of economical activity.

Control is a process providing the achievement of organizational goals, first of all. As it has been mentioned before, it is required for detection and resolution of the problems aroused before they become too critical. It can promote further successful functioning. Stimulus may be taken into account during the audit as a push-up to work perfection and development, expression of potential skills and abilities of employees.

The process of control consists of standard setting, factual results alteration and editing in the case if the results achieved differ from the set standards. Managers start realizing the function of control with the moment of aim and tasks development and company introduction. Without any manager’s control the whole system will become chaotic and random. Bankruptcy and cancellation of a firm are the main results of control system absence.

Increasing role of control function in organization management is closely connected with the use of automated information systems and computers which provide direct and accurate information delivery, its’ processing and analysis, infraction detection and decision-making in changeable market conditions. The use of information technologies and computers causes centralization strengthening and control efficiency in management, control shift on a higher level of authority that runs a corporation. Head manager can check all the information that is received and delivered in internal media and archives of the company. These media are created for convenient use, archiving and systematization of secret and important information of the networks.

The system of centralized control makes it possible to maintain the balance between de- and centralization in management because it implies the shift of control over lower level authority to managers of relevant departments.

At this stage they apply the control of correspondence of economic output and data planned in the current budget. They compare factual and planned sells. Any change in company’s market share is analyzed on the whole and according to its’ separate products and market segments. Stock of orders is taken into account. Such kind of control is usually called operational rather than managerial. Operational control systematically checks the realization of production program that is why it is usually connected with planning as a single function of operational management. At the same time managerial control requires centralization, meanwhile operational control does decentralization. Decentralized control implies operational activities and prevention of negative consequences. Centralized control is binding on organization way of development and course of events connected with strategic changes.

Control is very important for successful functioning of the company. Control function is such a characteristic of management that helps to reveal the problems and change an organizational activity before they become critical. One of the most important reasons of control implementation is that any organization must be able to define its’ failures in time and correct them before they could influence company’s aim achievement.

Equally important is a positive side of control that is all-round support of all the successful things for company’s work. In other words, one of the main control aspects is to define what spheres of work are the most effective. While detecting ups and downs of the company and their reasons they can easily and quickly adapt a company to dynamic requirements of the environment. Dynamics of environmental changes is constantly observed during the whole process of company’s functioning according to the environmental factors which can have a powerful influence on organizational development. The majority of factors’ variety is always in motion and ambiguity.

Control helps to resolve the problems and react to them to achieve planned goals. It also helps management to choose the time for changes in work of the company [5].

Hence, control function as an element of organizational management takes part in all the processes of work and prevents infractions. Properly-chosen type of control helps to complete this function without economic losses and timeliness of control foresees any infractions in the future. Success of any business is a result of well-developed management system which contains all management functions including control. That is why, control function serves as an instrument for company’s aims achievement and profitable business.

REFERENCES

1. Meskon, K. Fundamentals of management. – Moscow, 2007 (in Russian)

2. Grayson, J., & O'Dell C. American management at the threshold of the 21st century (translated from English). – Moscow: Economica, 1991 (in Russian)

3. Porshneva, A.G. et al. Organization management. – Moscow: 1998 (in Russian)

4. Kabushkin, N. I. Fundamentals of management, course book (7th ed.). – Moscow, 2004 (in Russian)

5. Shipunov, V. G. Fundamentals of management activity. Course book for universities. – Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 2004 (in Russian)