Control Mechanisms Paper - Essay Example

Running Head Control Mechanisms Paper Control Mechanisms Paper Control mechanisms ensure high quality and productivity, help to predict possible threats and mistakes and implement changes. To be "in control," Starbucks’ managers objectively observe the system. They analyze it rationally in order to design it and/or identify and act upon leverage points in such a way that movement into the future realizes or unfolds a future state already enfolded in the present/past. In Starbucks, control mechanisms are applied to all spheres of management and production.

Control can be defined as the process by which managers determine whether the organization (or department) is meeting a set of predetermined goals, established targets, or standards of performance. To that end, the manager is responsible for corrective actions are needed in order to ensure that the organization (or department) is on track in terms of meeting future goals and standards of performance (Frame, 2002; Starbucks Home Page 2007). The advantage of feedforward control is the ability to predict and change the system and its elements before they affect the system.

Depending on the kind of information being sought, there are a variety of tracking devices that include budgets, sales data by product line or geography, production output, quality control measures, and so on. The weakness of this control method is that variations within the system must be perfectly identified. Like other organizations, Starbucks uses feedforward control with feedback control which helps to improve performance and productivity. Feedback control is the process of evaluating performance against a set of stated objectives.

Feedback control points out flaws in strategy or product offering, as well as identify changing conditions that may require an adjustment in strategy. In order for feedback control to be effective, managers at all levels of the organization receive information that is both timely and unbiased. The advantage of feedback control is that it allows the organization to control unknown disturbances. Feedback control is often used as error-controlled regulation. The negative reaction to this control is that it needs a mistake or error to appear before a manager can take corrective actions (Frame, 2002; Starbucks Home Page 2007).

Concurrent control is used in database system and helps the organization to ensure that all transactions and actions are executed concurrently without violations. The positive reaction is its immediate response. In contrast to other methods, concurrent control allows immediate changes and variations if only the change is accepted. The negative reaction is that concurrent control cannot increment sharing of transaction processes. Concurrent control means the convenience and the ability to access a wider selection of processes.

The organization has greater control over the entire transactional process of purchasing good and services. Budgetary control means a “control technique whereby actual results are compared with budgets” (Budgetary control n.d.). Recent years, there have been demands for greater managerial accountability. This derives from the concern that in periods of budgetary growth new money allowed new activities to be undertaken without any questioning of whether existing activities were being performed as efficiently as possible or, indeed, if they were any longer necessary.

The positive reaction to budgetary control is that it allows to think about the future, provide coordination and resource control, defines areas of responsibility, motivates employees and economizes time (Budgetary control n.d.). Monitoring information needs to be pro­vided throughout the financial year, and is more useful if the expen­diture to date can be matched against an estimate of how much should have been expended by that date. This necessitates the cre­ation of spending profiles so that cumulative expenditure can be compared with estimates of what proportion of the budget should have been expended at certain points in time.

The negative reaction is pressure on staff, inaccurate records keeping, departmental conflicts and conflict between personal and organization goals (Budgetary control n.d.). In order to avoid limitations and disadvantages, Starbucks combines different control methods and mechanisms and ensure that controls are timely and reliable, and provide information on commitments as well as actual expenditure. References1. Budgetary Control (n.d.). Retrieved 07 September 2007, from http://www.fao.org/docrep/W4343E/w4343e05.

htm#budgetary%20control%20methods2. Frame, D.J. (2002). The New Project Management: Tools for an Age of Rapid Change, Complexity, and Other Business Realities. Jossey-Bass.3. Starbucks Home Page (2007). Retrieved 07 September 2007, from www.starbucks.com