Sections of this topic
Management Function of Coordinating / Controlling: Overview
of Basic Methods
© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting,
LLC.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business
and Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit Staff.
Basically, organizational coordination and control is taking
a systematic approach to figuring out if you’re doing what you
wanted to be doing or not. It’s the part of planning after you’ve
decided what you wanted to be doing. Below are some of the major
approaches to organizational control and coordination.
Sections of This Topic Include
Introduction – “Controlling”
Getting a Bad Rap?
Administrative Controls
Delegation
Evaluations
Financial Management
Performance Management
Policies and Procedures
Quality Control and Operations Management
Risk, Safety and Liabilities
Additional Perspectives on the Management Function of Coordinating
Also consider
Related Library Topics
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Introduction: “Control” Getting a Bad Rap?
Many People Are Averse to Management “Control”
New, more “organic” forms or organizations (self-organizing
organizations, self-managed teams, network organizations, etc.)
allow organizations to be more responsive and adaptable in today’s
rapidly changing world. These forms also cultivate empowerment
among employees, much more than the hierarchical, rigidly structured
organizations of the past.
Many people assert that as the nature of organizations has
changed, so must the nature of management control. Some people
go so far as to claim that management shouldn’t exercise any form
of control whatsoever. They claim that management should exist
to support employee’s efforts to be fully productive members of
organizations and communities — therefore, any form of control
is completely counterproductive to management and employees.
Some people even react strongly against the phrase “management
control”. The word itself can have a negative connotation,
e.g., it can sound dominating, coercive and heavy-handed. It seems
that writers of management literature now prefer use of the term
“coordinating” rather than “controlling”.
“Coordination” Must Exist or There’s No Organization
— Only an “Experience”
Regardless of the negative connotation of the word “control”,
it must exist or there is no organization at all. In its most
basic form, an organization is two or more people working together
to reach a goal. Whether an organization is highly bureaucratic
or changing and self-organizing, the organization must exist for
some reason, some purpose, some mission (implicit or explicit)
— or it isn’t an organization at all. The organization must have
some goal. Identifying this goal requires some form of planning,
informal or formal. Reaching the goal means identifying some strategies,
formal or informal. These strategies are agreed upon by members
of the organization through some form of communication, formal
or informal. Then members set about to act in accordance with
what they agreed to do. They may change their minds, fine. But
they need to recognize and acknowledge that they’re changing their
minds.
This form of ongoing communication to reach a goal, tracking
activities toward the goal and then subsequent decisions about
what to do is the essence of management coordination. It needs
to exist in some manner — formal or informal.
The following are rather typical methods of coordination in
organizations. They are used as means to communicate direction
and guide behaviors in that direction. The function of the following
methods is not to “control”, but rather to guide. If,
from ongoing communications among management and employees, the
direction changes, then fine. The following methods are changed
accordingly.
Note that many of the following methods are so common that
we often don’t think of them as having anything to do with coordination
at all. No matter what one calls the following methods — coordination
or control — they’re important to the success of any organization.
Various Administrative Controls
Organizations often use standardized documents to ensure complete
and consistent information is gathered. Documents include titles
and dates to detect different versions of the document. Computers
have revolutionized administrative controls through use of integrated
management information systems, project management software, human
resource information systems, office automation software, etc.
Organizations typically require a wide range of reports, e.g.,
financial reports, status reports, project reports, etc. to monitor
what’s being done, by when and how.
Delegation
Delegation is an approach to get things done, in conjunction
with other employees. Delegation is often viewed as a major means
of influence and therefore is categorized as an activity in leading
(rather than controlling/coordinating). Delegation generally includes
assigning responsibility to an employee to complete a task, granting
the employee sufficient authority to gain the resources to do
the task and letting the employee decide how that task will be
carried out. Typically, the person assigning the task shares accountability
with the employee for ensuring the task is completed. See Delegation.
Evaluations
Evaluation is carefully collecting and analyzing information
in order to make decisions. There are many types of evaluations
in organizations, for example, evaluation of marketing efforts,
evaluation of employee performance, program evaluations, etc.
Evaluations can focus on many aspects of an organization and its
processes, for example, its goals, processes, outcomes, etc. See
Evaluations
(many kinds)
Financial Statements (particularly budget management)
Once the organization has establish goals and associated strategies
(or ways to reach the goals), funds are set aside for the resources
and labor to the accomplish goals and tasks. As the money is spent,
statements are changed to reflect what was spent, how it was spent
and what it obtained. Review of financial statements is one of
the more common methods to monitor the progress of programs and
plans. The most common financial statements include the balance
sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. Financial audits
are regularly conducted to ensure that financial management practices
follow generally accepted standards, as well. See For-Profit
Financial Management and Nonprofit
Financial Management.
Performance Management (particularly observation and feedback
phases)
Performance management focuses on the performance of the total
organization, including its processes, critical subsystems (departments,
programs, projects, etc.) and employees. Most of us have some
basic impression of employee performance management, including
the role of performance reviews. Performance reviews provide an
opportunity for supervisors and their employees to regularly communicate
about goals, how well those goals should be met, how well the
goals are being met and what must be done to continue to meet
(or change) those goals. The employee is rewarded in some form
for meeting performance standards, or embarks on a development
plan with the supervisor in order to improve performance. See
Basic
Overview of Performance Management.
Policies and Procedures (to guide behaviors in the workplace)
Policies help ensure that behaviors in the workplace conform
to federal and state laws, and also to expectations of the organization.
Often, policies are applied to specified situations in the form
of procedures. Personnel policies and procedures help ensure that
employee laws are followed (e.g., laws such as the Americans with
Disabilities Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act, etc.) and
minimize the likelihood of costly litigation. A procedure is a
step-by-step list of activities required to conduct a certain
task. Procedures ensure that routine tasks are carried out in
an effective and efficient fashion. See Personnel
Policies.
Quality Control and Operations Management
The concept of quality control has received a great deal of
attention over the past twenty years. Many people recognize phrases
such as “do it right the first time, “zero defects”,
“Total Quality Management”, etc. Very broadly, quality
includes specifying a performance standard (often by benchmarking,
or comparing to a well-accepted standard), monitoring and measuring
results, comparing the results to the standard and then making
adjusts as necessary. Recently, the concept of quality management
has expanded to include organization-wide programs, such as Total
Quality Management, ISO9000, Balanced Scorecard, etc. Operations
management includes the overall activities involved in developing,
producing and distributing products and services. See Quality
Management and Operations
Management.
Risk, Safety and Liabilities
For a variety of reasons (including the increasing number of
lawsuits), organizations are focusing a great deal of attention
to activities that minimize risk, avoid liabilities and ensure
safety of employees. Several decades ago, it was rare to hear
of an organization undertaking contingency planning, disaster
recovery planning or critical incident analysis. Now those activities
are becoming commonplace. See
Crisis
Management
Employee
Wellness Programs (diversity management, safety, ergonomics, etc.)
Insurance
Risk
Management
Additional Perspectives on the Management Function of Coordinating
Impact of Organization Culture on Internal Controls
Coordination
as a Management Function
Definition
of Coordination – Management Study Guide
For the Category of Management:
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
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Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
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