Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the store may fi nd itself in a serious cash bind. A course of action established on a recurring
basis can become a practice by tradition or habit more than anything else. The status of
routine practices can become as important as that of either formal policies or procedures,
and even more diffi cult to change, so the agribusiness manager must ensure that practices
coincide with policies and procedures. Conversely, managers should be aware of business
practices as they institute new policies and procedures.
Controlling
The
controlling task
represents the monitoring and evaluation of activities. To evaluate
activities, managers should measure performance and compare it against the standards
and expectations they set. In essence, the controlling task assesses whether the goals and
performance objectives developed within the planning task are achieved.
Control in management includes an information system that monitors plans and processes
to ensure that they are meeting predetermined goals, and sounds a warning when necessary
so that remedial action can be taken. If all people were perfect and their work without fl aw,
there would be no need for controls. Everything would come out according to plan. But what
actually happens may not be what was expected. All people make mistakes; they forget, they
fail to take action, they lose their tempers, and they behave, in short, like normal human
beings. In addition, even when people do exactly what they are supposed to do, the market,
the competition, the weather, the equipment, etc. may not cooperate.
Control is complementary to the other three tasks of management. It compensates for the
misjudgments, the unexpected, and the impact of change. Proper controls offer the organiza-
tion the necessary information and time to correct programs and plans that have gone astray.
They should also indicate the means of correcting defi ciencies. Control requires meaningful
information and knowledge, and not that which is outmoded or not germane to meeting
organizational goals. Much valuable time can be squandered or wasted by a control program
unless a careful check of its real value is made periodically.
If the need for control information is not real, frustration, disrespect, and inaccuracy
are likely to result. Employees cannot respect a control program that is misused by
management. Management can consume valuable time reviewing useless control data, or
it can fail to separate the relevant from the irrelevant, with poor performance as the
consequence.
All business activities produce results. These results should be matched carefully to
well-conceived objectives that aim toward organizational goals. One of the most important
purposes of control is to evaluate the progress being made toward organizational goals. A
good example of this type of control is found in the budget or forecast comparison. Is one
over or under the budget? Are forecasts of sales and expenses in line with predictions? The
information or control required in all areas must be based on predetermined, written goals.
Only then can the agribusiness manager tell whether the reality matches the plans through
which success is sought.
Management by exception
An important management technique called
management by exception
holds the basic
premise that managers should not spend time on management areas that are progressing
according to plan. Rather, they should focus their efforts on areas in which everything is not
progressing as it should. If sales are in line with the forecast, the manager can devote the
