Introduction

It is time for you to know the fourth stage of the administrative process called
Control. Here you will study the techniques and methods that help us verify the
activities of the entire company. Although the control stage is the last of the process
administrative, the techniques that we will see in this Unit can also be applied
in all the others.

The topics that will be covered in this Unit are:

Importance of control in organizations

Steps of the control process
Control tools
Financial controls
Budgets
Internal and external audits
Operations management
Inventory management
Information and control systems
Performance evaluation: measuring standards and actions
corrective actions of the main activities of the Department of
Human Resources

What is control?
Definition and importance of control

In the control stage, the purpose is to ensure that the activities are carried out.
as they were planned and in case it is necessary for them to be established
corrective measures.

Control is a constant and repetitive process, in which continuously

managers must monitor the actual performance of their work areas accordingly
with the goals and plans of the management, but they must also develop systems
to control that allows them to take corrective measures when the plans are
execute incorrectly or when the situation changes.

Control is important in management, as although the company designs a

correct planning, a structure, an adequate organization and/or leadership
efficient, the manager will not be able to verify what the real situation of the company is, already
that (without control) there are no measurement parameters, no reports, or mechanisms
that they check that the objectives are being met.

Key Concept
Some definitions of control are:

Daft (2004) mentions that it is 'the systematic process by which executives'

they regulate activities to make them compatible with expectations
established in the plans, objectives, and performance standards
(p. 654).
Burk and Scanlan (1978, cited by Münch, 1990) assert that 'control has
to ensure that the facts align with the plans
established (p. 172).
Koontz and O'Donnell (1972, cited by Münch, 1990) say that 'it implies the
measurement of what has been achieved in relation to the standard and the correction of the
deviations, to ensure the achievement of the objectives in accordance with the
plan” (p. 173).

As you can observe in the definitions of the authors, control has the purpose
to optimize the management of financial, human, and material resources of the
company.

To properly apply control within an organization, there are

following principles:

Principle of balance. It means that for every delegated group granted

should be provided with the appropriate level of control, that is, a
a person must have the degree of responsibility according to the authority that
exercise.
●Principle of objectives. Control is the means to achieve the
objectives, for the same reason, standards must be established that serve as a basis
for the evaluation of actions within the organization.
●Principle of opportunity. Every control is efficient if it is used in the
opportune moment, that is, it should be applied before the error occurs.
Principle of deviations. It means that all deviations that
occurring within the plans of an organization must be analyzed
carefully to see the causes that originated them and to avoid them in the future.
●Principle of cost-effectiveness. Every control system incurs an expense and
this should not be greater than the cost of the error.
●Principle of the exception. The control must be applied to all activities
significant within the company.
●Principle of the controlled function. The one who performs an activity must not
exert control over the same activity; for example, the cashier of a
 The bank receives and delivers cash according to the request of the
clients and that cashier must have a manager who sees him every day
In this sense, the cashier cannot audit their own function.

Stages of control

Within organizations, it is important to use control at three moments. It

It is known as proactive control, which is applied preventively.
to avoid possible errors; concurrent control is the one that occurs at the moment
that the activity is carried out, that is, in the present; while the control of
Feedback is used after carrying out the activity.

Next, we present the three stages of control according to Daft.

(2004):

Early control. It is the stage of control that warns of problems.

identifying them before they occur. It occurs in human resources,
materials and financial resources of the organization. This type of control is also
known as preliminary or preventive. Some examples of the control
anticipated are:
Training employees before starting a new project.
The monthly maintenance provided to the machinery and equipment.
The market study before launching a new product.
Concurrent control. It occurs at the present moment, in the
routine or constant activities within the company to ensure the
compliance with performance standards. Some examples of this type of
control son:
Establishment of performance standards that help to measure the
employees' performance.
Company rules and regulations.
Procedures and organization manuals.
Feedback control. This type of control focuses on the outcome.
and applies especially in the manufacturing process within the control of
quality of the final product. Examples of feedback control are:
Performance evaluation of personnel.
Audits.
Studies to measure customer satisfaction.

2. Steps of the control process

The control must be applied according to a defined process that consists of the
next steps:

Establish standards and methods to measure performance. They should

determine units of measurement that serve as a pattern, a goal or
model in which the control is carried out. Among the main standards of
control within organizations appears in the performance of benefits, the
market position, productivity, product quality, development
of the staff and the evaluation of performance.
Measure the results. It is the calculation of the results using units of
measure, for this it is important the effectiveness of information systems
and these must be timely, reliable, and valid. Once you have the
information must be compared with the results obtained with the
established standards to determine if it was met
objective or not.

Take corrective measures. The benefit of control can only be realized if one
employ an action to correct or integrate the deviations in relation to the
standards. The bosses, managers, leaders, or executives can only
apply due to the authority they have within a company.
Feedback. It is always important that once the process is applied
a control analysis is conducted and feedback is given to those involved.

In addition, to implement a control system it is required:

Have objectives and control standards.

That the involved personnel understand and agree with the controls.
That the final results of each activity are established based on the
objectives.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the controls.

It is important to identify the factors that control so that they are

considered at the time of designing control measures. These factors are
following:

Quantity: anything must be measurable in order to be evaluated.

Time: a time horizon must be set in order to measure the

compliance.
Cost: the cost must be established to determine if it is relevant to apply it.
Quality: quality is qualitative, however, it is decisive in taste.
of the consumer.
 Multimedia

Pay close attention to the following video. In it, it is shown in a way

simple how the control process is carried out in practice, surely
it will be very useful for you as it is closely related to the contents of
this Module:

Administrative Process (Control) - Management -

Educatina. Available at
Unable to access external content such as videos.

3. Types of control
Different types of control are adopted in companies to verify the
achievement of the objectives. Among the most important are the control of
policies, the control of procedures, the control of personnel, the control of
production and sales control. Each of them is explained below:

In policy control, it is necessary to verify that each policy in the

organization facilitates the fulfillment of the organization's general objective.
For example, the personnel policy states: administrative staff must
meet the profile established in the job description, however, upon
compare the hired personnel with the job descriptions we have
it is reported that there are discrepancies, although this does not prevent hiring
that personnel. In this case, it is advisable to emphasize that if the organization
there are established policies, these must be respected because if they do not, they will not
It makes sense to have them.

The control of procedures within organizations is necessary.

because it helps to standardize a process within each activity.
Personnel control, there are measurement factors for personnel such as control.
attendance, punctuality control, performance evaluation, detection
of training needs, among others.
Production control, in the process of measuring production there are
different types of controls, which are quality, inventory,
maintenance of machines and control equipment.
Sales control, one way to control sales is through the
annual sales budget, through periodic visits to clients,
customer satisfaction surveys, among others.

4. Control tools
Control must be applied in all areas of the company and for that, we have
administrative tools or techniques that facilitate the evaluation of activities.

Reading

Review the following reading, in which you will learn about the tools of
controls used in different areas of the company, in addition to the
evaluation of the performance of the activities carried out in the area of
Human Resources.

Control tools

Recap of the Unit

During this Unit, the first two stages of the administrative process were studied:
direction and control. The most important concepts will be summarized below:

Remember that direction means to govern, guide, oversee, and lead subordinates.
to achieve certain objectives.

Managerial roles

Within managerial roles we find the following:

Interpersonal role: directs speeches, confers honors, chairs committees and

represents the company.
Leader: motivates, guides, and validates the work of subordinates.

Link: represents the organization before different public instances and

private.
Monitor: review and observe the compliance with the goals.

Diffuser: informs within the organization and externally.

Entrepreneur: authorizes changes, sets objectives, and formulates plans.

Problem solver: resolves conflicts and confronts competition.

Resource allocator: approves expenses, programs and promotions, sets
priorities.
Negotiator: manages agreements with clients, suppliers, and agencies.

Managerial skills
 The technical skill. It is the knowledge of the processes and activities to
carry out the main product of your company
Human ability. It is the capacity to work with other people within
from the organization, interacting, communicating and motivating, that's why this
skill is the most difficult to achieve
The conceptual skill. It is the ability to analyze the business context.
that serves as a basis for making decisions

Principles of control

Control is a constant and repetitive process, in which managers continuously

They must monitor the actual performance of their work areas according to the goals.
and the management's plans. Its principles are:

Principle of balance. It means that each group of delegated authority must

to provide the corresponding degree of control.
Principle of objectives. Control is the means to achieve objectives, by
the same standards must be established that serve as a basis for the
evaluation of actions within the organization.
Principle of opportunity. All control is efficient if applied at the right moment.
timely, that is, it should be used before the error occurs.
Principle of deviations. It means that all the deviations that occur
the plans of an organization must be carefully analyzed to
to see the causes that originated them and to avoid them in the future.

Principle of cost-effectiveness. Every control system generates an expense and this

the spending should not exceed the cost of the error.

Principle of the exception. Control must be applied to all activities.

significant within the company.
Principle of the controlled function. The one who performs an activity should not exercise
the control over the same activity.

Types of control

According to Daft (2004), the types of control are:

Advance control. It is the stage of control that warns of problems,

identifying them before they occur.
Concurrent control. It occurs at the present moment in activities
routine or constant within the company to ensure compliance with
the performance standards.
Feedback control. This type of control focuses on the outcome.
Steps of the control process

Establish standards and methods to measure performance.

Measure the results.
Take corrective measures.
Feedback.

Control tools

Financial control tools:

Budgets: expenses, income, cash, capital.
Financial statements: balance sheet, income statement or profit and loss
earnings.
Razones financieras: liquidez, actividad, rentabilidad, apalancamiento.
Audit: internal and external.
Tools and techniques for control in operations management:
Productivity.
Capacity planning.
Distribution of the plant.
Control in inventory management:
MRP (Material Requirements Planning).
MRPII (Material Requirements Planning version 2).
Just in time.
Information and control systems
Electronic Data Processing (EDP).
Computer-Based Information Systems (CBIS).
Decision Support System (DSS).