Counterproductive To Management And Employees example essay topic

The word "controlling" when applied to management principles has been unfairly demonized. Good controls allow organizations to be more responsive and adaptable in today's rapidly changing world. In addition good controls properly utilized can help to build morale among employees, much more than the rigidly structured organizations of the past. Simply put, controlling is monitoring and adjusting resources and processes to achieve its objectives in an effective way.

Some people go so far as to claim that management shouldn't exercise any form of control whatsoever. They claim that management should exist to support employee's efforts to be fully productive members of organizations and communities -- therefore; any form of control is completely counterproductive to management and employees. (Fisher, 1992) Some people even react strongly against the phrase "management control". The word itself can have a negative connotation, e. g., it can sound and heavy-handed. Regardless of the negative connotation of the word "control", it must exist or there is no organization at all.

In its most basic form, an organization is two or more people working together to reach a goal. Whether an organization is highly bureaucratic or changing and self-organizing, the organization must exist for some reason, some purpose, some mission (implicit or explicit) -- or it isn't an organization at all. The organization must have some goal. Identifying this goal requires some form of planning, informal or formal.

Reaching the goal means identifying some strategies. These strategies are agreed upon by members of the organization through some form of communication, formal or informal. Then members set about to act in accordance with what they agreed to do. They may change their minds, fine.

But they need to recognize and acknowledge that they " re changing their minds. (Baker, 1988) This form of ongoing communication to reach a goal, tracking activities toward the goal and then subsequent decisions about what to do is the essence of management coordination. It needs to exist in some manner -- formal or informal. At my company we employ five main techniques in management control: Administrative, delegation, personnel evaluations, budget management, and managerial feedback. Guerrilla Capitalist starts the control process before we begin work.

We use standardized software and reporting tools to insure that everyone in the organization is able to utilize the resources available to them. Perhaps more importantly standardization of administrative tools allows us to provide reliable and accurate reporting to the clients. The second phase of our control process is delegation. Delegation allows management to balance workloads. At the same time it gives the employee a sense of ownership in the company and the process.

Evaluation allows management to better interact with employees and customers. In addition evaluation of everything from the performance of individual employees to processes and methodology provide the company a more fluid bureaucracy that is more able to adapt to change. Our budget is a very important method for exercising managerial control. The bottom line can be the best barometer of the success of a program, idea, or employee. Moreover, the budget is a vital tool when determining the future plans of the company and prioritizing those plans.

Feedback is also an important control mechanism. Feedback gives management the opportunity to understand the effects of their decisions on the employees. Equally important, feedback provides access to management for employees to voice concerns or proffer new ideas that management might not have considered. Guerrilla Capitalist can improve its controls in several ways. First, by adding a comprehensive polices and procedures manual.

The goal of which would be to clearly define expectations, roles and responsibilities, as well as provide a standard method for redress of concerns. In addition, the company should have a more regimented peer review process through which managers could coach others constructively. Like many small companies, it is difficult to conceal poor performance, and as such, employees are aware of the expectations of the C.E.O. However, as the company grows accountability issues become clouded. It will be incumbent upon the owner to define and enforce expectations.

Management will have to be willing to deal with the good and bad, publicly rewarding the good work of an employee, and when the situation calls for it, delivering the public retribution required by subordinates when managers or the chain of command has failed to deal effectively with issues of accountability.

Bibliography

Fisher, Joseph. "Use of Non-financial Performance Measures". Cost Management, Spring, 1992.
Baker, Sunny and Baker, Kim "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Project Management" Alpha Books, 1998.