All about Controlling: An essential component of management

Controlling is a significant component of management that is mandatory to corroborate that the business is going in the right direction. Controlling is a process whereby it is ensured that any work or activity performed by the employees is carried out in accordance with the set targets or standards. Since controlling is performed at all levels of management, it leads to decentralisation of authority and better achievement of end goals. In the process of controlling, all the errors or deficiencies in the project are identified and rectified in the earliest so that the business faces minimal losses and similar errors can be mitigated in the near future.

The Features of Controlling

1. Pervasive in Nature: Controlling is performed at all levels of management but at different levels, its nature may differ.
2. Improvement in future results: Controlling is based on a forward-looking approach, i.e. it has its relation to the future. One cannot change any past situation but any happening in the future can be controlled.
3. Motivation to employees: Controlling leads to regulation in an organisation. The employees understand what their managers expect from them and they are also accustomed to the anticipated standards thereby leading to the improvement in their self-esteem. Performing work against the set standards motivates the employees to work hard and gain more rewards.
4. Achievement of organisational goals: Healthy controlling and best implementation of the desired plan accomplishes the organisational goals in the best way.

Process of Controlling

1. Establishment of desired results: To facilitate controlling in the best way, setting the standards against which the work or activities will be performed is the very first step.
2. Measuring the actual performance: After the establishment of standards, the actual performance of the employees is to be measured in the same terms in which the standards were established.
3. Comparing the performance with the standards: Once the performance is measured, it is compared with the set standards to identify whether everything is under control. If not, then the extent of deviation from the established standards is figured out.
4. Detecting any errors: Errors are to be expected in every performance, but it is not possible to correct all of them. Hence, the acceptable range of these errors is determined.

Types of Control

Controlling is of three types:

1. Concurrent Control: Since the business environment is dynamic, it becomes important to control the activities from time to time. When the work performance is audited in regular intervals and the actions are also taken before it causes any inconvenience, then this is termed as concurrent c
2. Feedback Control: When some information is taken about any finished task and it is utilised in improvising or controlling the same type of task in near future, then this is termed as feedback control.
3. Predictive Control: Future is unpredictable but some assumptions regarding the errors can be made in the present so that corrective actions can be taken much before the occurrence of such a situation. This is called predictive control.

So, these were the fundamentals of controlling which is one of the key processes in management. At MIT School of Distance Education (MIT-SDE), we familiarise all our students to these concepts of controlling so that they can practice these in their respective domains. MIT-SDE aims at creating skilled managers and entrepreneurs through its Correspondence MBA-equivalent courses, so each specialisation course includes a unit on controlling. You can enroll for any of our distance education courses and enhance your managerial skills.

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MIT School of Distance Education is one of the largest autonomous institutes in India for Distance MBA equivalent courses. MITSDE is approved by All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE).