Controlling Controls

                                                

                                              CONTROLLING CONTROLS

1. Managers always like to be in control of the processes and situations. We set up standards, rules, regulations so as to regulate the processes and systems within predefined limits. Control is what brings orderliness into the system and keeps it on track. As managers we do not like surprises and the main use of controls is to avoid surprises.
2. Control implies continuing with the continuity. It allows one to maintain the status quo by keeping the processes and systems with in the predefined limits of the parameters selected to monitor the process. It essentially implies keeping the car on the road or keeping the train on the track. The better a control system is in the organization the more confident the managers are that the continuity of the system or process will be maintained and unpleasant surprises do not occur.
3. To make a control more effective sub controls are established to monitor and control a particular variable in the process so that it contributes effectively to the establishment of overall control. Sometimes these sub controls can be in conflict with each other. But organizations in blind faith of continuing with the continuity and to avoid the risk of surprises , allow the controls to control their actions and in the end the controls start controlling the thought processes of the organization. If a surprise occurs then the organization bound by its standards and rules refuses to acknowledge them. Sometimes the controls established are not designed to detect these deviations and sometimes these deviations are ignored with the assumptions that "all is well" or ' we are doing very well". At times these surprises are often brushed aside or put under the carpet with the notion that they are exceptions or fluctuations in the process and do not represent the trend. sometimes they are dealt as crisis , where the person who manages the crisis gets rewarded rather than addressing the question as to what led to this crisis, what we missed and why we missed it. This feeling of being comfortable with the present way of doing things constraints the organization to loose the competitive edge and leads it to fade away into non entity over a period of time. The time period is different for different organizations but it the only thing certain is that it will come.
4. These controls besides leading the organization to complacency have a number of side effects:-
(a) Inhibit the organizations ability to explore new areas.
(b) Inability to question the validity and usefulness of these controls.
(c) Curb the risk taking ability of its employees.
(d) Curb creativity and innovation.
(e) Restricts useful information to them thus affecting their ability to take correct and timely decisions.
(f) People tend to play by the controls and standards rather than change them to changing environment and situations.
(g) Blame the standards and controls in case of failure rather than accept the blame.
5. This does not mean that controls are not required or they are bad. They are required and are essential but what is required is to control these standards and controls so that they do not become a burden and an anchor around the neck of the organizations thus suffocating it, by denying the oxygen of creativity and change, to its untimely death. What the organizations need to understand is how much control is required, where these are required and where these are not required , what type of controls are required, who is required to control what and lastly what controls have become outdated and need to be discarded or changed. this is what we understand by the term "controlling the controls".
6. It is a process of questioning the controls and starts with the first premise of " Do we require controls?" By all means have control but keep them to the most essential ones, where they are required as an absolute must and not to all the areas where you can possibly put controls. In examining the standards and controls for their requirement and usefulness, we need to ask ourselves the questions:-
(a) Is it required at all? Can we do without them?
(b) Find out what we need to control and what to measure and not what all we possibly can.
(c) Keep them to the most essential so that people can remember them and applying them becomes a habit rather than a forced procedure.
(d) If a standard or control is more than a year old then reexamine it.
(e) If you have not used a standard for six months then put it in the waste paper basket.
(f) If a control is working very well then it is time to question and reexamine them. It is possible that they were wrongly set or they are too loose.
(g) When you establish controls and standards then also plan as to when you are going to remove them or under what environmental conditions they will become redundant.
7. The major aim is to make the organization flexible enough so that it encourages risk taking, individual initiative and gives a person enough courage to question their usefulness and validity. This will also give the courage to employees to notice and accept and be prepared for surprises as and when they occur and to make timely changes and amendments at their own levels without waiting for a response from higher up. The organization will then change from being a reactive one to a proactive and allow creativity and innovation to flourish.