Management
Function of Coordinating / Controlling:
Basically,
organizational coordination and control is taking a systematic approach to
figuring out if you're doing what you wanted to be doing or not. It's the part
of planning after you've decided what you wanted to be doing.
New,
more "organic" forms or organizations (self-organizing organizations,
self-managed teams, network organizations, etc.) allow organizations to be more
responsive and adaptable in today's rapidly changing world. These forms also
cultivate empowerment among employees, much more than the hierarchical, rigidly
structured organizations of the past.
Many
people assert that as the nature of organizations has changed, so must the nature of management control. 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.
Some
people even react strongly against the phrase "management control". The word
itself can have a negative connotation, e.g., it can sound dominating, coercive
and heavy-handed. It seems that writers of management literature now prefer use
of the term "coordinating" rather than "controlling".
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, formal or informal. 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.
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.
The
following are rather typical methods of coordination in organizations. They are
used as means to communicate direction and guide behaviors in that direction.
The function of the following methods is not to "control", but rather to guide.
If, from ongoing communications among management and
employees, the direction changes, then fine. The following methods are
changed accordingly.
Note
that many of the following methods are so common that we often don't think of
them as having anything to do with coordination at all. No matter what one calls
the following methods -- coordination or control -- they're important to the
success of any organization.
Various
Administrative Controls
Organizations
often use standardized documents to ensure complete and consistent information
is gathered. Documents include titles and dates to detect different versions of
the document. Computers have revolutionized administrative controls through use
of integrated management information systems, project management software, human
resource information systems, office automation software, etc. Organizations
typically require a wide range of reports, e.g., financial reports, status
reports, project reports, etc. to monitor what's being done, by when and
how.
Delegation
Delegation
is an approach to get things done, in conjunction with other employees.
Delegation is often viewed as a major means of influence and therefore is
categorized as an activity in leading (rather than controlling/coordinating).
Delegation generally includes assigning responsibility to an employee to
complete a task, granting the employee sufficient authority to gain the
resources to do the task and letting the employee decide how that task will be
carried out. Typically, the person assigning the task shares accountability with
the employee for ensuring the task is completed.
Evaluations
Evaluation
is carefully collecting and analyzing information in order to make decisions.
There are many types of evaluations in organizations, for example, evaluation of
marketing efforts, evaluation of employee performance, program evaluations, etc.
Evaluations can focus on many aspects of an organization and its processes, for
example, its goals, processes, outcomes, etc.
Financial
Statements (particularly budget management)
Once
the organization has establish goals and associated strategies (or ways to reach
the goals), funds are set aside for the resources and labor to the accomplish
goals and tasks. As the money is spent, statements are changed to reflect what
was spent, how it was spent and what it obtained. Review of financial statements
is one of the more common methods to monitor the progress of programs and plans.
The most common financial statements include the balance sheet, income statement
and cash flow statement. Financial audits are regularly conducted to ensure that
financial management practices follow generally accepted standards, as well.
Performance
Management (particularly observation and feedback phases)
Performance
management focuses on the performance of the total organization, including its
processes, critical subsystems (departments, programs, projects, etc.) and
employees. Most of us have some basic impression of employee performance
management, including the role of performance reviews. Performance reviews
provide an opportunity for supervisors and their employees to regularly
communicate about goals, how well those goals should be met, how well the goals
are being met and what must be done to continue to meet (or change) those goals.
The employee is rewarded in some form for meeting performance standards, or
embarks on a development plan with the supervisor in order to improve
performance.
Policies
and Procedures (to guide behaviors in the workplace)
Policies
help ensure that behaviors in the workplace conform to federal and state laws,
and also to expectations of the organization. Often, policies are applied to
specified situations in the form of procedures. Personnel policies and
procedures help ensure that employee laws are followed (e.g., laws such as the
Americans with Disabilities Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act, etc.) and
minimize the likelihood of costly litigation. A procedure is a step-by-step list
of activities required to conduct a certain task. Procedures ensure that routine
tasks are carried out in an effective and efficient fashion.
Quality
Control and Operations Management
The
concept of quality control has received a great deal of attention over the past
twenty years. Many people recognize phrases such as "do it right the first time,
"zero defects", "Total Quality Management", etc. Very broadly, quality includes
specifying a performance standard (often by benchmarking, or comparing to a
well-accepted standard), monitoring and measuring results, comparing the results
to the standard and then making adjusts as necessary. Recently, the concept of
quality management has expanded to include organization-wide programs, such as
Total Quality Management, ISO9000, Balanced Scorecard, etc. Operations
management includes the overall activities involved in developing, producing and
distributing products and services.
Risk,
Safety and Liabilities
For
a variety of reasons (including the increasing number of lawsuits),
organizations are focusing a great deal of attention to activities that minimize
risk, avoid liabilities and ensure safety of employees. Several decades ago, it
was rare to hear of an organization undertaking contingency planning, disaster
recovery planning or critical incident analysis. Now those activities are
becoming commonplace.
