Characteristics of Effective Control

It is clear that the effectiveness of control depends not only on the behavior of people. In order for control to fulfill its main task (to contribute to the achievement of the organization's goals), it must have a number of characteristics.

Strategic nature

Effective control must be strategic in nature, that is, reflect and support the overall priorities of the organization. The fact that it is relatively difficult to evaluate or measure a particular type of activity quantitatively should in no case become a criterion in deciding whether this control mechanism should be introduced, unless, of course, it is justified from an economic point of view. Activities that are not of strategic importance should be measured infrequently, and deviations may not be reported to anyone until they become serious. Absolute control over minor operations is pointless and only distracts from more important goals.

But if this or that activity, from the point of view of management, is of strategic importance, then control over it is mandatory, even if it is very difficult to change and evaluate it. It is clear that the areas of primary and strictest control will be different in different companies, but an effective control system is necessary for any organization.

Focus on results

The ultimate goal of the control process is not to collect information, set standards, and identify problems, but to achieve organizational goals. Measurement and reporting are needed only as a means to achieve them. For controls to be effective, management must be careful to ensure that these explicit controls do not become more important than the organization's true objectives. For example, it would be foolish to fire your best sales agent if he is consistently late with reports.

Moreover, it is meaningless to claim that a control system is aimed at specific results if the actual goals are not achieved. It is useless, for example, to have extensive and accurate information about certain deficiencies if it is not used for appropriate corrective measures. This means that information will only be meaningful for control when it reaches those people who have sufficient authority to implement the appropriate changes. If the control mechanism does not work, then most often the reason lies not in an imperfect power structure, but in the measurement mechanism. Therefore, effective control needs to be integrated with other management functions.

In general, the control process is considered effective only if the organization actually achieves its desired goals and is able to formulate new goals that will enable it to survive in the future.

Correspondence

Effective control must necessarily correspond to the type of activity controlled with its help. It must objectively measure and evaluate what really matters. Inappropriate controls are more likely to mask the problem than to identify it.

Not so long ago Hewlett-Packard discovered that new manufacturing procedures made its traditional cost control methods unsuitable. Until 1983, the company controlled the production of printed circuit boards using a work order system. In 1983, the company switched to "repetitive cycle manufacturing", which is characterized by the production, processing and assembly of large volumes of standardized products. One of the main requirements of this process is that to ensure its continuity, workers and materials are constantly redistributed between different orders. Unfortunately, this requirement undermined all attempts to control production costs the old way using work orders. Costs were estimated very inaccurately, and workers, managers, and accountants became increasingly frustrated by their inability to track the actual costs of any given order. As a result, the company had to improve its cost control system, including abandoning the classification of the cost of “live” labor as a separate cost category.

Timeliness

Effective control must be timely. This does not mean a high speed of the control process and not a high frequency of control activities, but that the time interval between measurement and assessment should correspond to the controlled phenomenon. The most appropriate time interval is determined by factors such as the time frame of the baseline, the rate of change, and the cost of measurement and reporting.

A retail store, for example, may need relatively accurate weekly inventory information to ensure it has enough inventory. But a complete inventory of goods in the warehouse in order to assess losses due to theft should be carried out no more than once a quarter.

In addition, the main purpose of control is to eliminate performance deficiencies before they become serious. Therefore, an effective control system is one that provides the right information to the right people before a crisis occurs.

Flexibility

If unexpected events could be predicted, control would be unnecessary. Controls, like plans, must be flexible enough to adapt to current changes. Minor changes to plans usually do not require major changes to the control system. For example, a company that produces one hundred types of products should use inventory control methods that are applicable to fairly large changes in their volumes. Without sufficient flexibility, the control system will be unacceptable in the situations for which it was created. Thus, if a new cost factor unexpectedly arises, caused, for example, by the need to adapt to a new law, then the firm's control system will not be able to effectively monitor its costs until this factor is introduced into the system.

Simplicity

As a rule, the most effective control system is the one that is easiest to use to solve the problems for which it is intended. The simplest control methods require less effort and are more economical. But the most important thing is that if a control system is unnecessarily complex and the people interacting with it do not understand or support it, then it simply cannot be effective. Excessive complexity leads to confusion, and confusion is synonymous with a lack of control. An effective control system must be created taking into account the needs and capabilities of the people who implement it and interact with it.

There are many examples where organizations have spent huge amounts of money on creating highly complex control systems, which, however, were never used because they were too complex for those who had to implement them.

Economical

Organizations rarely strive to achieve control excellence because the latter level of improvement tends to require a disproportionate amount of effort and expense. For example, the number of shipments of goods for an average company is usually not very large. However, unless the shipment received is particularly valuable or is very easy to inspect, checking each box will likely cost the company much more than if it simply accepted the shipment and accounted for the possible losses.

It should not be forgotten that any costs to an organization should result in an increase in its benefits. They should bring her closer to her goals. Therefore, if the total costs of a control system exceed its benefits, it should be abandoned or less stringent controls introduced. In general, since there are many hidden costs associated with control, such as time spent and effort diverted that could be spent on other tasks, for control to be economically justifiable, its cost-benefit ratio must be quite low.

Of course, in order to correctly assess this relationship, it is necessary to take into account not only the short-term, but also the long-term effect of control. In general, if there is any clear rule of control, it is that any control that costs more than its contribution to achieving goals leads not to improved control over the situation, but to the choice of the wrong course (another synonym for lack of control).

Control at the international level

If an organization does business abroad, the control function becomes even more complex. When entering the international level, the number of company goals increases significantly and control becomes a more difficult task. Managers have to set standards, measure results and take corrective actions not only for their business at home, but also abroad. It is clear that the more countries a company operates in, the more difficult it is to carry out the control function.

This task is further complicated by communication problems between the parent company and subsidiaries. They arise due to geographical distance and language and cultural barriers. For example, the American style of control is to select the right people and make them responsible for achieving goals and implementing programs, but in Mexico responsibility is perceived as something fatalistic. By telling a Mexican colleague in Mexico that he was personally responsible for the failure of the project, the American manager would be seriously insulting him. Moreover, according to Professor A. Phatak, “in some cultures, the detailed reporting inherent in management systems with tight control is simply unacceptable.”

Managers operating internationally can take advantage of different control techniques that are used by their counterparts in the domestic market: 1) periodically hold meetings at the head office with the participation of personnel from foreign branches; 2) organize trips of corporation executives to foreign branches; 3) send managers from their own country to work in foreign branches; 4) require foreign branches to submit detailed reports on individual areas of activity to the head office; 5) periodically carry out activities within the framework of budgetary and financial control.

IN ITT, for example, at the New York headquarters, monthly meetings are held for managers of all branches - both profitable and unprofitable. They discuss the reports of these divisions, containing information on sales, profits, return on investment, etc. In addition, managers must report on the current and potential problems of their divisions, be able to explain their reasons and tell how they intend to solve them.

It should be remembered, however, that when analyzing the performance of foreign branches, the branch manager can only be held responsible for what he can control. For example, if it turns out that the main reason for a subsidiary's poor performance is government action, then the manager should not be held accountable for the failure because that factor is beyond his control. On the other hand, if the influence of such factors could be predicted, responsibility should not be removed from the manager. If a trend could have been addressed but was not, it may be worthwhile to modify the foreign subsidiary's planning system to take account of the trends that are likely to affect its operations.

Finally, multinational firms, like those operating at home, must use both financial and non-financial controls: market share, productivity, the firm's image in the country and local community, morale, relations with trade unions and with the host government.

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In life, it is important to know both one side of the coin and the other. As they say, “so that life doesn’t seem like a fairy tale.” One way or another, it is undoubtedly necessary to know the various aspects of your affairs and yourself as a whole. What do we give up and in favor of what, what we do and how do we do this?. We learn from mistakes, and perhaps there are mistakes that follow us year after year, directly affecting our effectiveness and life in general. It's time to get to know them in person :)!

Let's look at the typical mistakes of ineffective people.

1. Don't show yourself.

You may have heard Woody Allen say, “80 percent of success is showing up at the right time and in the right place.”

The simplest and most important thing you can do for success in your life, be it social, career, or health, is to show up more often in the right places. If you want to improve your health, then the most effective and important method is to appear in the gym more often.

The weather may be bad, you may not be in the mood, and there may still be thousands of reasons not to go anywhere. But, if, no matter what, you still go to the gym, then you will be able to achieve your goal much faster than if you remained lying in your warm and cozy bed.

I think this principle can be applied to all areas of life. If you draw daily, you will quickly become a good artist. If you leave the house more often, you may have more friends. If you go on more dates, your chance of meeting a truly unique person will greatly increase. All you have to do is show up more in the right places. Not showing your face is a sure way to nowhere.

2. Walk from side to side for half a day.

Procrastination, or putting off important things until later, is a very dangerous habit. I will give three good ways to get rid of it:

Eat the frog. This simply means doing the most important, difficult, and sometimes unpleasant tasks first thing in the morning. If you did something important at the beginning of the day, or work that has been hanging like a stone on your shoulders for a long time, your whole day will be charged with positive feelings. Very often in such cases the whole day will be highly productive.

How to eat an elephant? Don't even try to open your mouth so wide that you can swallow the whole elephant in one bite. It will seem impossible, very difficult and, in the end, you will postpone this work for later. Divide the task into several easily completed subtasks. Then focus only on the first step and nothing else. Take only the first step, nothing more. Once you have done it, move on to the second step.

Relax. At the beginning of the day, relax, turn on slow, soothing music and just lie there, not thinking about anything. This kind of meditation will give you a boost of energy and motivation for the whole day.

3. Do not do what is most important at the moment.

One of the habits that quickly sticks to a person, along with postponing important things for later, is being busy with unimportant things.

To be effective you need some kind of time management system. This could be something as simple as the 20/80 rule applied every day. The 20/80 rule, or the Pareto Principle, states that you achieve 80% of your results from 20% of your total work activity. Thus, you need to focus on those few important tasks on which your entire success depends.

Once you have prioritized your tasks, write down the 3 most important things that need to be done today. Then, starting to work on the first, when finished, move on to the second task. Even if you complete only one task from the entire list, you have done the most important thing that could be done today. You can also choose another system, like GTD. But no matter how you organize your day, the key point is to identify important tasks and try to do exactly these tasks. Then you will not live days, weeks, or months simply meaninglessly and uselessly, moving nowhere personally and professionally. Simply doing things faster is not a solution to problems if you are doing unimportant things (despite the fact that they may be urgent).

And you end up doing too little. Deep thoughts can destroy months, even years of your life. There is nothing wrong with thinking before you do something. Do some research, create an action plan, discover potential problems and benefits.

But if you just think, think, and think, you are simply wasting your time. You don't have to examine something from every angle, every detail, every detail before you try to do something. And you can't wait for the perfect time to start something. This time will simply never come. And if you continue to think, you are simply driving yourself deeper and deeper into a hole, from which it will be more and more difficult to get out and start doing something. Instead, you just need to stop thinking and start doing what you need to do.

5. Look only at the negative sides and problems in everything.

When you look at everything from a negative point of view, very soon there will be nothing left of your motivation. You will find failures and problems even where they don’t really exist. You will get caught up in the details. If you want to find a reason not to do something, no question. You can find at least a dozen such reasons for each task.

As you manage to do very little, you complain and tell everyone who is interested and not interested how terrible your job is, how hard your life is and what a bad person your boss is. All this becomes a kind of prophecy for your future, since you are exactly who you consider yourself to be, and your life will be exactly the way you perceive it today.

The solution to this problem is to find the limits of a negative perspective. And understand that your point of view does not reflect 100% of the actual picture of the world. Try other points of view. For example, trying to see things in more colorful colors is quite useful. Try to perceive everything only in the most rosy and positive tones for 7 days. You will be surprised to discover how the world in which you live has changed and what results you will achieve.

6. Only your thoughts are important, ignore all external factors.

Sometimes it can be very difficult to admit that your thoughts and ideas about something are incorrect, or not the best option. And you try to close yourself off from all external influences. Because of which, for example, you may never become more effective. In general, in such a position it is very difficult to assume that you will be able to change something in your life.

One solution is to be more open. Be more open to learn from the mistakes of others, from your own mistakes, or to gain knowledge from their books. It's easy to say, but not so easy to do. This is perhaps the most difficult to implement. I can only advise you to once again expand your boundaries of understanding about all things, and try something new.

A very important note - do not allow yourself to get bogged down in reading books. There will be no sense in reading if you do not apply everything you read in your life.


7. Get as much information as possible, don’t miss anything!

By all information I don’t just mean reading books. I'm talking about all sources of incoming information. If you simply allow all the information to flow into your mind, it will be very difficult to keep your mind and thoughts clear. Here are the consequences of this bad habit:

Some incoming information will be negative. Media sources or your environment will periodically influence you negatively, and if you do not filter all the information, a lot of negativism will also enter your mind. This will definitely influence the way you think, feel and act.

When you receive a lot of information, you will react to it in a certain way. The more information enters your mind, the more reactions are necessary on your part, but there is a lot of information and you cannot cope with everything. It makes your life too stressful.

It can be very difficult to make a decision and do anything when your mind is bombarded with so much continuous information that needs to be filtered. Personally, I notice that the more information I receive, the less time I have to do anything. Or you may get stuck in habit #3 and be very busy doing low-priority things at great speed.

In order to be more focused, think more clearly and get to work, it is very important to choose the information that comes into your mind. When you work, try to remove as many irritants and things that distract you as possible. Turn off your phone, Internet, close the door. It's amazing how much you can do if you don't get distracted by little things every five minutes, check your email, or visit your favorite sites.

Of course, I am not suggesting that you stop reading blogs, news and your favorite sites. But think carefully about what you read out of necessity and what you read just to kill time.

If you are surrounded by people who are procrastinating or fussing over low-priority tasks, get away from them, slam the door and focus on your life.

There may be many more such errors; we have considered only some of the most popular ones. Be carefull!

In order for control to fulfill its true purpose, that is, to ensure the achievement of the organization’s goals, it must have several important properties:

1. In order to be effective, control must be strategic in nature, that is, reflect the overall priorities of the organization and support them.

2. The ultimate goal of control is not to collect information, set standards and identify problems, but to solve the problems facing the organization. Carrying out measurements and reporting their results is important only as a means to achieve this goal.

3. To be effective, control must be appropriate to the activity being controlled. It must objectively measure and evaluate what really matters. An inappropriate control mechanism may mask rather than capture critical information.

4. Control must be timely. The timeliness of control does not lie in the exceptionally high speed or frequency of its implementation, but in the time interval between measurements or assessments that adequately corresponds to the phenomenon being monitored.

5. If something unexpected can be predicted, then control becomes unnecessary. Control, like plans, must be flexible enough to adapt to changes.

6. As a rule, effective control is the simplest control in terms of the purposes for which it is intended. The simplest control methods require less effort and are more economical. Excessive complexity leads to disorder, which is synonymous with loss of control over the situation.

7. Cost-effectiveness - as one of the characteristics of control effectiveness. It is very rare to strive to achieve complete perfection in the work of an organization through control, since progressive improvements and improvements at the last stages require a disproportionate amount of effort and money. We should never forget that the expenses incurred by an organization should lead to an increase in its benefits and income. Expenditures should bring the organization closer to its goals. Thus, if the total cost of a control system exceeds the benefits it creates, the organization is better off not using the control system at all or introducing less rigorous controls. Certainly. In order to determine the true cost-benefit ratio of a control system, it is necessary to consider both long-term and short-term aspects. If there is any hard and fast rule of control, which costs more than it gives to achieve the goals does not improve control over the situation, but directs the work along the wrong path, which is another synonym for loss of control.



8. When organizations conduct their business in foreign markets, the control function takes on an additional degree of complexity. Since when entering the international level the number of goals in entrepreneurial activity increases significantly, control in this case is more difficult to exercise. Managers must not only set standards, measure performance, and take corrective actions for their domestic business, but also implement similar operations for their international business. Obviously, the more global their business, the more difficult it is to exercise control. It is important not to hold foreign managers responsible for solving problems that are beyond their control.

The fulfillment of management tasks to regulate, organize, coordinate and control the production process and the achievement of intended goals are assessed in the market.
Management tasks are continuously becoming more complex as the scale of production grows, requiring the provision of ever-increasing amounts of resources - material, financial, labor, etc.
The process of designing or restructuring the organizational management structure is inextricably linked with the development of personnel management, control and information support structures. Essentially, we are talking about the fact that the effective functioning of any management structure depends on the interest of the people who perform certain tasks in it; from the presence of feedback received as a result of the implementation of the control function, and from the information support of all management processes occurring within the framework of the constructed structure.
Motivation is an activity aimed at activating the workforce and everyone working in the organization and encouraging them to work effectively to achieve the goals formulated in the plans. The experience of modern business leaders shows that they achieve success if they recognize people as the main source of effective development of the organization. At the same time, failures to implement their plans are most often associated with a lack of support from staff. Often management develops a detailed strategy and communicates to all employees the reasons why change is needed, but does not detail what this means for each employee. Corporate plans and statements by senior management about goals often remain empty rhetoric; fine words mean nothing to employees. And this is understandable, since the performers receive wages not for the implementation of the mission, but for achieving short-term goals and fulfilling operational plans. Sometimes it happens that management announces what needs to be done, but does not explain why and for what purpose. Meanwhile, as one leader aptly put it, change “is a door that opens only from the inside.”
Unfortunately, underestimating the potential and intellectual resources of people working in organizations is a significant shortcoming of the management of Russian enterprises. Meanwhile, human potential for most Russian enterprises represents the main and, perhaps, the only competitive advantage today.
The bottleneck is the disconnect between organizational planning and human resource management and, above all, in terms of staff motivation. Meanwhile, in modern conditions, more than ever before, it is necessary for all the organization’s personnel to act as a cohesive team with a clear vision of the future, a clear understanding of their importance and motivation to act independently to achieve their goals. Well-trained, organized and motivated personnel really determine the fate of the enterprise. Control is a management activity whose task is to quantitatively and qualitatively assess and record the results of an organization’s work. There are two main directions in it:
control over the implementation of work planned;
taking action to correct any significant deviations from the plan or the plan itself.
Effectively implemented control must be quite simple and timely, have a strategic focus and be results-oriented.
Control is a function of the management process, its most important part, which provides feedback and allows the cyclical management process to be continuously repeated on a new basis. It is inextricably linked with other management functions and, on the one hand, depends on them, and on the other hand, predetermines their content. Therefore, when organizing control at an enterprise, it is necessary to take into account the factors that determine the effectiveness of this management function. Among them we highlight the main ones:
organizational - objects of control (what should be controlled), subjects of control (who controls), the place of the control function in the organizational structure of management (to whom it reports, rights, responsibilities, powers);
scale of control - number and accuracy of controlled parameters, frequency and speed of control;
control information - volume, frequency, accuracy and timeliness of information necessary for control;
control costs - funds associated with the organization of the control function and its information support.
The effectiveness of an organization is a management category, therefore performance management is the main task that management must solve continuously and systematically. Only this approach allows obtaining results that correspond to the organization’s goals.
The most important mechanisms for performance management are employee motivation and feedback, through which the system adapts to changing conditions. These processes are actively monitored not only by the organization's managers, but also by various interested groups, including external (potential investors, banks, creditors, consumers, suppliers, competitors, etc.) and internal (workers, trade unions, informal groups). All of them create a certain economic and social environment, within the boundaries of which there may be both opportunities for increasing efficiency and factors leading to its decrease.

8. References

1. General management of an organization: theory and practice / Z.P. Rumyantseva - M.: INFRA-M, 2007.
2. Management / I.N. Gerchikova - M.: UNITY, 2007.
3. Personnel management / T.V. Zaitseva, A.T. Zub - M.: Publishing House "FORUM" - INFRA-M, 2008.
4. General management of the organization: principles and processes. Modular program for managers. Module 3/Z.P. Rumyantseva, N.B. Filinov, T.B. Shramchenko - M.: INFRA-M, 2005.
5. Theory of organization / F.F. Barannikov - M.: UNITI, 2004.

People's behavior, of course, is not the only factor determining the effectiveness of control. In order for control to fulfill its true task, i.e. to ensure the achievement of the enterprise's goals, it must have several important properties.

Strategic focus of control

In order to be effective, control must be strategic in nature, i.e. reflect and support the overall priorities of the organization. The relative difficulty of quantifying an activity or measuring its effectiveness on a cost-benefit basis should never serve as a criterion for deciding whether a control mechanism should be introduced. Activities in areas that are not of strategic importance should be measured infrequently, and the results may not be reported until variations become unusually large. Absolute control over routine operations (such as minor expenses) does not make sense and will only divert forces from more important goals. Open defiance of the demands for detailed accounting of all types of expenses, which is often observed in sales organizations, is virtually the only way in which salespeople can convey to their management the message that huge expense reports are nonsense and not reasonable control.

But if senior management believes that certain activities are of strategic importance, then effective controls must be established in each such area, even if these activities are difficult to measure. Naturally, the specific areas will vary from organization to organization, but all organizations need effective control systems.

For effective control, this process must comply with the following principles.

1. Results-oriented. The ultimate goal of control is not to collect information, set standards and identify problems, but to solve the problems facing the organization. Carrying out measurements and reporting their results is important only as a means to achieve this goal. If you want to make controls effective, you must be careful to ensure that these self-evident controls do not take precedence over the organization's true objectives. For example, it would be foolish to fire a firm's best salespeople simply because they never submit expense reports on time.

Moreover, it is pointless to proclaim that your system is aimed at obtaining specific results if in fact it cannot achieve them. It is useless to have extensive and accurate information about various deviations from intended targets if this information is not used to take the necessary corrective actions. This means that information about the results of control is important only when it reaches those persons who have the right to make appropriate changes on its basis. When the control mechanism fails, the reason most often lies in the fact that it is necessary to improve the structure of rights and responsibilities, and not the measurement procedure. Thus, to be effective, control must be integrated with other management functions.

As a result, control can be called effective only when the organization actually achieves its desired goals and is able to formulate new goals that will ensure its survival in the future.

  • 2. Relevance to the case. To be effective, controls must be appropriate to the activity being controlled. It must objectively measure and evaluate what really matters. An inappropriate control mechanism may mask rather than capture critical information. For example, it is generally accepted to evaluate the effectiveness of trading by setting a certain quota and comparing it with the actual sales volume in dollars. But this can lead the company to huge losses, because in fact, success is determined not by sales volume, but by profit level. Many factors can lead to quotas being met while trading performance is actually low. For example, a firm may offer unusually high discounts or unusually high levels of after-sales service to gain new business, or prices may increase due to inflation. In such situations, the business will lose money on each sale rather than earn it.
  • 3. Timeliness of control. To be effective, control must be timely. The timeliness of control does not lie in the exceptionally high speed or frequency of its implementation, but in the time interval between measurements or assessments that adequately corresponds to the phenomenon being monitored. The most appropriate time interval of this kind is determined by taking into account the time frame of the master plan, the rate of change and the cost of taking measurements and disseminating the results.

A retail store, for example, may need fairly accurate weekly inventory information. This is necessary in order to be sure that the store has something to sell. However, an actual physical inventory of goods to determine losses from theft and theft should be done no more than once a quarter. Likewise, a retailer must determine and record its sales on a daily basis in order to deposit money in the bank and monitor cash flow. But from time to time, a retailer needs to determine hourly sales volume in order to determine the hours of maximum and minimum sales volume and arrange his employees on the sales floor accordingly. This is one of the reasons why computerized registers print sales times on receipts. Another reason is that by knowing the timing of the sale, management can determine who is responsible in case of any error or poor service.

In addition, the most important goal of control remains the elimination of deviations before they become serious. Thus, an effective control system is one that gives the right information to the right people before a crisis develops.

  • 4. Flexibility of control. If something unexpected can be predicted, then control becomes unnecessary. Control, like plans, must be flexible enough to adapt to changes. Minor changes to plans rarely require major changes to the control system. Thus, for example, a business producing 100 different products must use inventory control techniques to control any relatively large increase or decrease in the quantity of products, as well as the quantity of each item on hand at any given time. Without a sufficient (and very significant) degree of flexibility, the control system will not be effective in the situations for which it was intended. So, for example, if a new cost factor unexpectedly arises due to, say, the need to adapt to new legislation recently passed, then until it is built into the enterprise's control system, the control system will not be able to track production costs.
  • 5. Easy to control. As a rule, the most effective control is the simplest control in terms of the purposes for which it is intended.

The simplest control methods require less effort and are more economical. But the most important thing is that if the control system is too complex and the people interacting with it do not understand or support it, then the control system cannot be effective. Excessive complexity leads to disorder, which is synonymous with loss of control. To be effective, control must match the needs and capabilities of the people interacting with and implementing the control system.

There are many examples of enterprises that have spent large sums of money developing sophisticated control methods, but which have never been used because they were too complex for the people called upon to apply them. In the 60s of the 20th century, for example, almost all the major New York banks tried to expand the capabilities of their control systems. The result was a sea of ​​thick volumes containing complex information about everything in the world. All but one of the banks were forced to abandon the new control approaches simply because their staff were completely confused by the information.

The manager of the only bank that developed a completely usable control system was no smarter or more energetic than the others. His approach, however, benefited from a good understanding of the factors that make the control and dissemination of information effective. The secret of this manager was that he first tested all the developed instructions on his teenage daughters. If the girls, who knew nothing about banking, understood the procedure he described, then the manager could be sure that the bank employees would certainly understand it.

6. Economical control. It is very rare to strive to achieve complete perfection in the work of an organization through control, since progressive improvements and improvements at the last stages require a disproportionate amount of effort and money. Thus, for example, the number of product shipments received by any typical business is almost certainly not very large. And therefore)", unless the cargo is very valuable or if it is quite easy to count, it is better to capitalize the entire delivery as a whole and come to terms with possible thefts than to check the contents of each box - this will be very expensive.

We should never forget that all expenses incurred by an enterprise should lead to an increase in its benefits and income. Expenditures should bring the enterprise closer to its goals. Thus, if the total cost of a control system exceeds the benefits it creates, the enterprise is better off not using this control system at all or introducing less thorough control. In general, since there are many side costs hidden in control, such as the cost of working time and the diversion of resources that could be spent on solving other problems, then in order for control to be economically justified, the ratio of costs to possible profit should be quite low.

Of course, in order to determine the true cost-benefit ratio of a control system, it is necessary to consider both long-term and short-term aspects. If there is any hard and fast rule of control, it is first of all that any control that costs more than it gives to achieve the goals does not improve control over the situation, but directs the work along the wrong path, which is another synonym for loss of control.

People's behavior is not the only factor that determines the effectiveness of control. In order for control to ensure the achievement of the organization's goals, it must have several important properties.

1. Strategic focus of control. In order to be effective, control must be strategic in nature, that is, reflect the overall priorities of the organization and support them. If senior management believes that certain activities are of strategic importance, then effective controls must be set up in each such area, even if these activities are difficult to measure. Naturally, the specific areas will vary from organization to organization, but all organizations need effective control systems.

2. Focus on results. The ultimate goal of control is not to collect information, set standards and detect problems, but to solve the tasks that the organization faces. Information about the results of control is important only when it reaches those persons who have the right to make appropriate changes based on it. When the control mechanism fails, the reason most often lies in the fact that it is necessary to improve the structure of rights and responsibilities, and not the measurement procedure. Thus, to be effective, control must be integrated with other management functions.

As a result, control can be called effective only when the organization actually achieves its desired goals and is able to formulate new goals that will ensure its survival in the future.

3. Relevance to the case. To be effective, control must be appropriate to the type of activity being controlled. It must objectively measure and evaluate what really matters.

4. Timely control. To be effective, control must be timely. The timeliness of control does not lie in the speed or frequency of its implementation. Required intervals between measurements or assessments. The value of the interval is determined taking into account the time boundaries of the main plan, the rate of change, the costs of taking measurements and disseminating the results.

In addition, the most important goal of control remains the elimination of deviations before they become serious. Thus, an effective control system is a system that provides the right information to the right people before a crisis occurs.

5. Flexibility of control. Control must be flexible enough to adapt to changes that occur.

6. Easy to control. As a rule, the most effective control is the simplest control in terms of the purposes for which it is intended.

The simplest control methods require less effort and are more economical. Control must meet the needs and capabilities of the people who interact with and implement the control system.

7. Economical control. It is very rare to strive to achieve complete perfection in the work of an organization through control, since improvement and improvement in the final stages require a disproportionately large expenditure of effort and money.

It must be remembered that all expenses of an organization should lead to an increase in its benefits and income. Expenditures should bring the organization closer to its goals. Thus, if the total cost of a control system exceeds the benefits it creates, the organization is better off not using the control system at all or introducing less rigorous controls. In general, since control hides many side costs, such as working time and diversion of resources that could be spent on solving other tasks. In order for control to be economically justified, the ratio of costs to possible profits must be low.

8. Control at the international level. When organizations conduct their business in foreign markets, the control function takes on an additional degree of complexity. Since when entering the international level the number of goals in entrepreneurial activity increases significantly, control in this case is more difficult to exercise. Managers must not only set standards, measure performance, and adjust actions for their domestic business, but also implement similar operations for their international business.

An additional factor that complicates the control situation is the possible communication problems that arise between the central headquarters of the corporation and its branches and subsidiaries. Similar problems can arise through geographical distance, language and cultural barriers. Managers who have taken their business to the international level can be advised to use the following techniques: 1) periodically hold meetings at the company's headquarters with the relevant personnel of foreign branches and branches; 2) carry out visits of the management of the central office of the corporation to foreign branches and subsidiaries; 3) assign managers from the central headquarters to work in foreign branches; 4) require the provision of reports from foreign branches to the company’s headquarters with a detailed description of the results of activities in individual areas of work; 5) carry out different types of budgetary and financial control.

When analyzing the performance of the company's foreign branches, it is necessary, however, to remember that the branch manager can only be held responsible for that which is under his control.

Finally, multinational firms must employ financial and nonfinancial controls. Non-financial characteristics that are subject to control include the fate of the company's products on the market, labor productivity, the company's reputation in the country and in society, the moral level of employees, relations with trade unions and relations with the government of a foreign country.