

Questions: 1- Why is the concept of controlling important in management?
2-Using Exhibit 10-3 Sources of Information for Measuring Performance, explain one source of performance evaluation you have experience with or are otherwise familiar with. 3-Employee performance is controlled through effective performance feedback and through disciplinary actions, when needed. Suppose you supervise a team of ten employees in a manufacturing plant. What would be an example of a potential employee perfromance problem, and how would you address the problem as the supervisor? Module: Exhibit 10-3 Sources of Information for Measuring Performance Benefits Drawbacks Personal Observations • Get firsthand knowledge • Information isn’t filtered • Intensive coverage of work activities • Subject to personal biases • Time-consuming • Obtrusive Statistical Reports • Easy to visualize • Effective for showing relationships • Provide limited information • Ignore subjective factors Oral Reports • Fast way to get information • Allow for verbal and nonverbal feedback • Information is filtered • Information can’t be documented Written Reports • Comprehensive • Formal • Easy to file and retrieve • Take more time Robbins, Stephen P.. Management (p. 268). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition. Some control criteria can be used for any management situation. For instance, all managers deal with people, so criteria such as employee satisfaction or turnover and absenteeism rates can be measured. Keeping costs within budget is also a fairly common control measure. Other control criteria should recognize the different activities that managers supervise. For instance, a manager at a pizza delivery location might use measures such as number of pizzas delivered per day, average delivery time, or number of coupons redeemed. A manager in a governmental agency might use applications typed per day, client requests completed per hour, or average time to process paperwork. Most work activities can be expressed in quantifiable terms. However, managers should use subjective measures when they can’t. Although such measures may have limitations, they’re better than having no standards at all and doing no controlling. Step 2: Comparing Actual Performance Against the Standard The comparing step determines the variation between actual performance and the standard. Although some variation in performance can be expected in all activities, it’s critical to determine an acceptable range of variation (see Exhibit 10-4). Deviations outside this range need attention. Let’s work through an example. Chris Tanner is a sales manager for Green Earth Gardening Supply, a distributor of specialty plants and seeds in the Pacific Northwest. Chris prepares a report during the first week of each month that describes sales for the previous month, classified by product line. Exhibit 10-5 displays both the sales goals (standard) and actual sales figures for the month of June. After looking at the numbers, should Chris be concerned? Sales were a bit higher than originally targeted, but does that mean there were no significant deviations? That depends on what Chris thinks is significant; that is, outside the acceptable range of variation. Even though overall performance was generally quite favorable, some product lines need closer scrutiny. For instance, if sales of heirloom seeds, flowering bulbs, and annual flowers continue to be over what was expected, Chris might need to order more product from nurseries to meet customer demand. Because sales of vegetable plants were 15 percent below goal, Chris may need to run a special on them. As this example shows, both overvariance and undervariance may require managerial attention, which is the third step in the control process. Robbins, Stephen P.. Management (p. 269). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition.