General Framework

The study of control theory is an academic discipline in itself and is known as cybernetics. Control mechanisms are ubiquitous. Some examples are: the engineering control of the trajectory of a space rocket to the control of the speed of a train. Outline the well-known control mechanisms and explain why control in the management sense may be more difficult than engineering control.
Individual Components...You get a choice of which individual components you will investigate.

1. Describe the role that each of the ‘elements of control' must play and how the effectiveness of control mechanism is dependent on each.

2. Give an example of how feed-back (reactive) control is used in business and identify the situations where it would be effective and those where it would not be effective

3. Explain how the standard (the goal) should be set in a managerial control context

4. Explain why feed-forward (proactive) control is more difficult to apply than feedback (reactive control)

5. Explain the concept of Requisite Variety in the Activating Unit.