Identifying Different Systems Used in Managerial Control - Example

TAYLORISM IS FUNDAMENTALLY A SYSTEM DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE MANAGERIAL CONTROL OVER WORKERS. AS SUCH, IT MAY HAVE PASSED ITS 'USE BY' DATE, WITH MORE RECENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOCUSING ON EMPOWERMENT AND PROMOTING EMPLOYEE INITIATIVE."DISCUSS STUDENT’S NAME: INSTITUTION: INSTRUCTOR’S NAME: DATE: Introduction Management has been defined as all the activities that are undertaken in any organization to ensure that work has been accomplished through the efforts of others; in this case the subordinates. Good management is essential for achieving success. The manager is responsible for providing directions by the activities described as management functions. For a manager to succeed in his responsibility and ensure a positive outcome, he has to instill managerial control of the workers so that there will be effective performances of operations. Without managerial control, there will be a slower rate of performance, and hence the resulting output will be a failure to achieve perceived goals. This discussion aims at identifying different systems used in managerial control and comparing their effectiveness when applied by the managers. Managerial control is a tool used by the management to ensure there is an optimum resource utilization as per the objectives perceived. It involves setting of standards and the workers are supposed to work in order to achieve the standard; it also involves comparing the performance and the standards so as to detect any deviations and finally correcting the detected deviations. All the three steps in managerial control are used to improve productivity because the workers will be forced to meet the standards so that their performance will be rated and those who will not have reached the standards will be answerable. It is for the reason of achieving objectives that have forced organizations to implement the use of control systems in the management so that the efficiency of workers will be improved and, therefore, enabling the business to be sustainable in the external environment. Organizations use managerial control systems, and it has enabled them to strive in the competitive world. Discussion There are different managerial control tools rating from way back on the times of Taylor an American engineer who proposed on the use of scientific management, the word Taylorism is derived from the name Taylor and the principles of scientific management that he came up with. Taylorism is, therefore, a system designed to maximize managerial control over workers. It was from Taylor that management control was adopted in organizations. Taylor (1911) defined scientific management as a system of control by using scientific methods to define an easy method of performing operations and measuring the performance of that operation. He came up with principles as follows; The first was concerned with shifting responsibility of management functions such as planning, controlling, organizing, staffing and directing to the manager while leaving the implementation programs to the workers. This could allow managers to make sound decisions and pass authority to the workers who will implement the decisions. The second principle was determining an appropriate and efficient way of performing tasks through the use of scientific methods like operation research. This enables the workers to accomplish a task at a more convenient time while ensuring that the accomplished task is appropriate. Giving authority to the competent and skilled worker is another principle. This ensures good results because the performer has knowledge and skills in performing the assigned work. Induction and training are another principle, the organization together with the human resource manager should organize trainings for the workers so as to boost their performance and to add them knowledge in their specialized fields. This principle is efficient and ensures there is improved performance. Monitoring and evaluation is a principle that ensures workers are performing their task as assigned and the rate of performance is appropriate. This will boost the performance level, and it is a tool used to drive efforts in workers. From the above principles emphasized by Taylor, there has been an improvement in managerial control which has led to increasing in the number of organizations who adopted the use of these principles. Understanding the organizational structure is a drive towards accomplishment of the above principles. This will help the workers to know where they are supposed to be, their area of specialization and also their roles. Organization structure also helps the organization to create departments where each unit of operation will fall; this will ease the management control measures as emphasized by Taylor. This was way back before other systems of control were developed. Workers were able to perform their tasks effectively, and it was required that they give an account of what they have done. It is, therefore, evident that managers had their responsibilities different from those of the workers. With the recent advancement in different fields of operations in management, managerial control has faced the effect and impact of the changes from the old system of control to the use of updates systems. The old system of control in this case is Taylorism because it has been used from way back in nineteen century. There have been changes with the adoption of better advanced methods in organizations. The purpose of updating managerial control is to be able to keep in phase with the changing technology and the environment, while considering competition globally. The latest management systems have been designed to empower and promote employees. This is what has led to abandoning Taylorism system of management; however the use of scientific management was a stepping stone towards the current tools used. In order to understand recent management systems, it is important to have an insight on the most common systems used in organizations. The results and objectives perceived by an organization determine the management system to adopt (McPherson, 2001.28-31). The most commonly used systems are explained below; Quality management control system. This system focuses on controlling the performance of the workers while considering the quality of services to the customers. It emphasizes on providing a quality service and, therefore, the workers should be well equipped with skills in service provision. The system is used to measure the efficiency of service provision and the passion for providing the service to the customers. The feedback and customer turnout defines the quality of service provision. The managers have to make the appropriate decision about the services that will attract more customers; the workers are then given the responsibility of implementing these decisions through ensuring attractive services to the customers by ensuring customer satisfaction. Occupational, safety and health management control system. This is a system that controls the organization performance while considering the occupation, safety and health of the workers. Any organization has to adopt this type of a system because the welfare of the worker is important since it affects the overall performance of working towards achieving goals. Occupation of the worker is accomplished by assigning duties and responsibilities according to the level of education and competence, it is done through ranking so that there will be different occupations of workers. The health of the workers is done through ensuring that they are of good health and physically fit to perform the assigned duties. Their safety is ensured by insuring them in case of any accidents. These controls are essential because they stimulate the worker’s performance, and motivate them to work hard. Environmental management control system. It is a system that seeks to ensure that activities in the organization comply with the environment. There should be a good relationship between the organization and the surrounding environment to ensure viability and success. The control system is achieved through instilling environmental concerns to the employees so that they should perform their operations while considering the surroundings. The objectives perceived are the determinant on whether there will be a positive or negative impact to the environment. An organization cannot adopt these systems independently, but should combine all these systems so as to form one system that caters for all the departments. Having understood the common management control systems used. A question should arise on what a good control system should contain. The successful management control system should provide timely feedback; this will put the managers in a position to make decisions regarding the feedback. It should be understood by all the people in the organization; this will allow the workers to understand and identify ways of making sure they stick to the control system. A good control system should also help the manager to identify ways and solutions to an identified deviation in the operations. This will enable managers to react quickly towards a problem than wasting time on trying to find ways of correcting the situation which could be tedious and the probability of making appropriate decision will be minimal due to pressure. The systems that have been used lately in the business focuses on empowering and promoting employees in the company. Studies have shown that employees are an important resource in any working environment. Jaffee (2012) explains that actually there is no organization that has not employed workers; they provide human resource and are responsible for results achieved. They play a key role in implementing ideas and decision and ensuring positive results. They control machines used in the production; they provide services to the customers and many activities that are accomplished by human efforts. It is, therefore, a concern to organizations that workers need to be treated as drivers of achieving objectives. They should not be treated like slaves because it is their efforts that yield success. The control systems adopted should, therefore, motivate employees than discouraging them. They should add value to the employee performance and should empower them so that they can be able to develop more ideas and innovations for achieving success. The purpose of empowering employees through control systems is to achieve synergy, and this is done in the form of; shared know how, the workers are able to share the knowhow on tasks that seem complicated, this is achieved through teamwork. Pooled negotiation power is another form of achieving synergy, and it is achieved when workers are able to come together and work as a team. In the event of teamwork, there will be the generation of new ideas and innovations that will add value to the organization activities. Through synergy, workers are able to share tangible resources in their operations so long as they are working in the same field of specialization. Compared to scientific management by Taylor, recent management control is more channeled towards achieving synergy (Thompson & McHugh, 1995). According to the research on human resource management, it is discovered that there are aspects that influence profit making through workers. These dimensions drive the ability of workers to have a passion of working with the organization. They are discussed below; Employment security; the performance of workers is determined by employment security guaranteed to them by the organization. Workers are not willing to perform their operations with passion while having in mind that they are not secured, they will be afraid to generate resourceful ideas and innovations, they will lag in their activities, and this is a negative impact on the results. Even if there is a control system, the workers will not be willing to work efficiently. Providing employment security in today’s world full of competition will drive out fear in workers and will motivate them to implement decisions tactfully. One of the ways of providing employee security is giving them assurance that they will not be affected during the downturns of an organization which is always characterized by retrenchments and downsizing or right sizing of employees. Selective hiring of workers; when there is a need to obtain substantial profits through workers, investing on hiring the best and qualified worker is better because the company will have confidence in the hired employee. Selective hiring is achieved through identifying unique qualities that are desired by the management. These workers with qualified skills and have different attributes are able to adapt to changes in the control systems because they have experience in their specialized fields. They will better understand the management functions and will are able to apply their skills in performing operations that require the use of skills and expertise. Hiring such workers will bring a positive impact on the profits since they will stick to the standards of control system, and they will work as a team together with mangers. Designing an effective compensation strategy; compensation involves a way of rewarding the efforts of employees. It is done through; direct compensation whereby salary is given to the worker and other forms of monetary rewards such as bonuses. Indirect compensation is accomplished through benefits that accrue employee performance. High performing employees should be recognized and rewarded during those who are not able to attain the standards given a chance to participate in conferences and trainings so as to improve their efficiency. Compensation system when integrated with control system influence performance positively, and the end result will be improved profits. Share ownership is another compensation strategy that empowers employees who perform well. Studies reveal that employees are more productive when they feel that they own a share in the organization, this is because according to psychological studies, when someone is given ownership of something, they tend to find all the means of protecting it and ensuring its safety. Same case applies when the workers are given ownership power (Ritzer, 2012, Pg 18-20). Extensive induction and training; management control systems always work best when the workers understand the terms and conditions of these systems. The standards set should be attainable and should be realistic, so that workers are able to find their ways of ensuring they work to their best. Extensive training and induction is a strategy that equips employees with new skills and knowledge on performing the operation. It sharpens their abilities and keeps them updated with the changing environment and technological changes, as well. Training is essential for high performance in the organization; it also drives the morale of workers. The systems used demand people with efficient skills which will identify deviations quickly and correct them; they also need skills on how to use them since technological advancement has resulted in the invention of complicated machines that require expertise to use them. Training is a way of attaining competitive advantage in a competitive surrounding. Organizations have invested in training their workers as a motivational factor which will influence their performance. Reducing status difference among workers; good results are always attained when all the workers channel their efforts by sharing ideas and skills and working as a team. However, when there is a big and pronounced difference between the occupations of workers in different departments, it leads to some employees feeling less valued than others. In order to achieve implementation of management control, there should be a reduction difference in status and the workers being given a chance to mingle together without considering their statuses. This will facilitate the flow of ideas and information which is a way through success of the implementation process. This strategy is achieved by limiting compensation difference between managers, designing a landscape layout office so as to boost interaction among employees and also ensuring that benefits as trainings and conferences should favor all employees. Facilitating the flow of information; when there are effective means of communication at different levels, the flow of information will be accomplished. Observations and analysis have discovered that poor implementation of managerial control is associated with insufficient flow of information from one department to another and from one employee to the other. Facilitating the flow of information is a way of influencing hard work because workers will access the information easily and act according to the requirements of that information. Flow of information involves interpreting the message in a farm that can be understood by all the recipients. When there is information flow, workers will tend to feel empowered. Conclusion In conclusion, When we focus on the aspect of management and leadership, we find that a good manager should have both managerial and leadership skills. Leadership is the ability to influence people or a group to work together in one direction towards attaining a common goal. When we look at the systems of control, it involves leading workers through directing them on the right path manager who does not have leadership skills will be unable to lead the workers through the control systems. Tools of measuring performance are employed in all control systems to ensure effectiveness of the workers and will facilitate their responsibility and accountability. From the McDonald,s drivers for the achievement, a major factor that they use in ensuring the success is the ability to control all the operations. They have designed a program that controls workers in their field of performing duties. They have integrated the components of efficiency, calculability and predictability in achieving synergy and the use of technology to control all the operations. Therefore, in today’s management control systems, workers are self driven and have the passion to work because of the fusion between strategies to motivate them and the control system adopted by the organization Reference Jaffee, D. (2001) ‘The Rise of the Factory System’, Organization Theory: Tension and Change, London, McGraw-Hill, Chapter 3, pp. 42-63, McPherson, J. M. (2001). ‘Southern comfort’. New York Review of Books, XLVIII, 6, 12 April, 28–31 Parker, M. (2002) Against Management Polity, Cambridge. Chapter 1. Taylor, F. W. (1911) Scientific Management, New York, Harper & Row, Chapter 1-2. Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. (1995) Work Organizations: A critical introduction, 2nd ed., London, McMillan, chapter 4. Ritzer, G. (2010) The McDonaldisation of Society, 6th Edition. Sage: London: Chapters 1, 2 & 6. Read More