In accordance with the stages of application, control function is divided into six types.
1. Preliminary Control:
It is exerted through the process of planning and allocation of resources in the operation. It means that allocated human resources should be able to meet the job requirements.
Allocated material resources should be in accordance with the quality and standards available on time. Machines and equipment must be available on time, and so also the optimum availability of financial resources.
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2. Monitoring:
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It is a concurrent or simultaneous control system to monitor the ongoing operations, so as to ensure the achievement of intended objectives of an organization. Traditionally, organizations enforce such control through managers and supervisors, who ensure this through on-the-spot verification of the activities, based on the standard operating procedures (SOP) or any other defined guidelines and policies of the organization.
3. Evaluative or Feedback Control:
It considers the end results to develop the framework for future actions. Some of the commonly used techniques used for this type of control are, impact analysis, quality control, performance evaluation and cost-benefit analysis.
The distinction between these three control stages or types, helps us to broadly classify the stage-wise scope of control functions and accordingly select the matching control techniques.
4. Strategic Control:
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A strategy is selected and implemented over time. However, strategies being forward looking, designed to accomplish the objectives in future, it is necessary to enforce control over strategy. We have discussed this in details in our chapter on Planning.
5. Tactical Control:
Tactical control focuses on assessing the implementation of tactical plans at departmental levels, monitoring results and taking corrective actions, if necessary. Middle-level managers make use of this control for achieving departmental goals and objectives, meeting departmental programmes and budgets.
6. Operational Control Systems:
Operating managers also need control methods appropriate to their level of strategy implementation. Their primary concern is allocation and use of the company resources. An operational control system is enforced in the form of guidance for the monitoring and evaluation of operational activities of the organization. This helps in accomplishing the organizational objectives.
Getting excited by their results, one of the large automobile manufacturers in India, which employs mostly engineers even in their shop floors, emulated their practices. This organization, being professional and employees being highly educated followed a matrix structure, creating a number of positions for project heads, who had been given the task of managing independently after finalization and implementation of the participative plans.
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The system started with much enthusiasm hoping that results would be better in a sluggish competitive market. However, the annual review indicated that the company could only achieve to the extent of 70 per cent of their targets as per plans. There was no system of intermediate review by the top management. The company had to drop their new system and reverted back to their old hierarchical structure.