A Manager's Guide to Business Control: Determining Need and Identifying Types - Essay Sample

Introduction

Business control refers to the strategies employed in setting firm targets, determining the real performance of the business, identifying appropriate corrective steps. There are different types of business controls; operations, financial, structural, and strategic. This paper discusses how a business manager can determine whether a firm needs control and how to identify the types of control that require improvement.

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According to Kotler, and Keller, (2016), a business manager can determine whether a firm needs control through critical analysis of the financial statements. If the firm records gross loss, then the manager should think of controls. Financials controls refer to the various way of managing finances. The strategies include cash controls, collection, accounts payable, and further financial controls. Bank statements should be mailed directly to the firm proprietor and signed to avoid the case of exposing them to the lay public. Bank checks should be kept safely to avoid future embezzlement of funds. The management should authorize any collection to write off in writing. Keep proper record of financial transactions. The firm`s expenses system should be formal and clear.

Operations controls encompass all the operational security measures such as resources protection and software protection, media and physical control measures, hardware and physical access measures (Kotler, and Keller, 2016). The manager should put all possible mechanisms in place such as regular monitoring of the systems to determine their suitability.

The application of performance standards enables firms to determine their strengths and weaknesses thus enables the company to find out the sectors to be improved. The use of strict performance standards system has various advantages and disadvantages such as proper analysis of the output of each employee; the performance of each employee is based on the total output of each worker. The worker comprehends the expected outcomes of job performance. On the other hand, the employees might feel overburdened by the tight company policies. The use of flexible performance standards enables workers to work with minimal supervision. At such times the production may be optimal, but at the same time, the production might decrease as there is no motivation for more production.

Strict performance standards promote poor communication between the senior management officials and the subordinates. In most cases, the form of communication applied in strict performance standards is top-bottom format and not vice versa. On the other hand, flexible performance standards enhance two-way form of communication which promotes communication of both negative and positive aspects.

Conclusion

The management should consider the wellbeing of the employees while formulating the performance standards. They should feel that they are part of the company. The workers should be involved in the formulation of the set performance standards. All in all, the performance standards are meant to increase the performance of individual departments and the whole organization.

References

Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management (15th Edition). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.