Assignment

A good place to start is the interactive tutorial and PowerPoint presentation below. This presentation will give you a short introduction to this topic:

Controlling organizational performance. (2014). Pearson Learning Solutions, New York, NY.

Once you've gone through the above tutorial, take a look at the following book chapters for a more detailed discussion of the controlling function of management:

Jeyarathmm, M. (2008). Chapter 16: Designing strategic control systems: Matching control and structure to strategy. Strategic Management. Mumbai, IND: Himalaya Publishing House. [Ebrary]

Bhattacharyya, D. (2009). Chapter 12: Organisational control. Organisational Systems, Design, Structure and Management. Global Media, Mumbai, IND [Ebrary]

Patel, V. (2007) Controlling techniques for effective management. Concepts and Issues in Management page 55-87, Global Media, Jaipur, India. [Ebrary]

Before starting on this assignment, carefully go through all of the required background readings, including the Pearson tutorial and the textbook chapters. Focus on the four main steps involved in the control process: setting goals and standards, measuring performance, comparing actual performance to performance goals, and taking corrective actions. Also, pay close attention to the different methods of control outlined in the background materials.

For this assignment you will be reviewing four hypothetical scenarios. Go through each scenario, and think about what went wrong regarding the control process. For each scenario, consider the following two issues:

1. What do you think went wrong in terms of the four main steps in the control process? Refer to the four steps in the control process discussed on pages 237-238 in Bhattacharyya (2009) or pages 234-236 of Jeyarathmm (2008).

2. What control system do you think should be implemented to correct this problem in the control process? Refer to the control systems discussed on pages 237-245 of Jeyarathmm (2008). Your paper should be three to five pages in length, with roughly equal space in your paper devoted to two of the four scenarios below (you can pick which two scenarios you would like to address):

1. Suppose as part of a company's standards they require their salesforce team to make 12 phone calls per hour with no more than five minutes of phone time per customer. The company fails to meet their profit targets, and a review of salesforce records reveals that they were only making an average of 10 phone calls per hour. Corrective actions are taken, and the salesforce starts making 12 phone calls per hour. But profits still don't improve and fail to meet targets. Discuss both questions A and B above regarding this scenario. Your answer should be one to one and a half pages in length.

2. Now suppose an airline sets strategic goals of both reducing flight delays and improving safety requirements. At the end of the year, a comprehensive review is done that shows that the company met its standards both in terms of reduced flight delays and improvements in safety standards. However, shortly after the review the airline company receives several fines from the Federal Aviation Administration for safety violations. Discuss both questions A and B above regarding this scenario. Your answer should be one to one and a half pages in length.

3. An automobile manufacturer decides on a goal of reducing production defects from 10% to 5%. Defects are monitored closely, careful records are kept, and production line is often videotaped. At the end of year production defects are still around 10%. Management decides that even more monitoring is necessary and decides that all production processes be videotaped. But after another year production defects are still around 10%. Discuss both questions A and B above regarding this scenario. Your answer should be one to one and a half pages in length.

4. A video game company decides to boost profits by creating five new games over the coming year. Careful monitoring is done over the new game development process and all five new games are created as scheduled with high-quality standards. However, only one of the five games ends up selling and the other four end up losing money. So overall profits have not been boosted and have actually declined. Discuss both questions A and B above regarding this scenario. Your answer should be one to one and a half pages in length.

Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly.

• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.

• Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you find articles on the Internet, make sure they are from a credible source.

• Reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 13 and 14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the "Writing Style Guide," which is found under "My Resources" in the TLC Portal