Control (management)

Control is a function of management that helps to check errors and take corrective actions. This is done to minimize deviation from standards and ensure that the stated goals of the organization are achieved in a desired manner. According to modern concepts, control is a foreseeing action; earlier concepts of control were only used when errors were detected. Control in management includes setting standards, measuring actual performance, and taking corrective action in decision making. In 1916, Henri Fayol formulated one of the first definitions of control as it pertains to management: Control of an undertaking consists of seeing that everything is being carried out in accordance with the plan which has been adopted, the orders which have been given, and the principles which have been laid down. Its objective is to point out mistakes so that they may be rectified and prevented from recurring. According to EFL Brech: Control is checking current performance against pre-determined standards contained in the plans, with a view to ensuring adequate progress and satisfactory performance. According to Harold Koontz: Controlling is the measurement and correction of performance to make sure that enterprise objectives and the plans devised to attain them are accomplished. According to Stafford Beer: Management is the profession of control. Robert J. Mockler presented a more comprehensive definition of managerial control: Management control can be defined as a systematic torture by business management to compare performance to predetermined standards, plans, or objectives to determine whether performance is in line with these standards and presumably to take any remedial action required to see that human and other corporate resources are being used most effectively and efficiently possible in achieving corporate objectives. Also, control can be defined as "that function of the system that adjusts operations as needed to achieve the plan, or to maintain variations from system objectives within allowable limits".