Research Paper on Management: Operations Control

Operations control is a managerial function (Ballou, 2007) that uses systems to monitor the day-to-day activities to make sure they run consistently with the set goals and objectives. It involves setting standards, measuring actual performance against the pre-determined standards, and taking corrective actions if errors have occurred. The primary aim of operational control is to streamline the process of production to ensure that goals are achieved as quickly and efficiently, but with minimum costs. To achieve this, the operational control process is divided into five stages namely; establishment of standards against which actual performance will be measured, measurement of actual performance, comparing actual performance with standards, analysis of causes of deviations, and taking remedial action.

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Operations control has been in existence in businesses for many years, although its functions have evolved over the years. Traditionally, this function was not well developed and was intertwined with the whole process of production management. The control systems were conducted manually, and this made the process experience many challenges in monitoring performance. In most cases, errors were noted at the end of the production process when the damage had already been done. However, with the recent developments in education and technology, better control systems have been put in place, (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Policies, procedures, and better strategies have been put in place to counter the earlier challenges. An example is the use of surveillance cameras and sensors to control the way employees are working. The control function has also been broadly defined, and managers and subordinates understand it better.

Operations control can be divided into three types of controls. These are feedforward control, concurrent control, and feedback control. Feedforward control, also known as preliminary control, pre-control, or preventive control, involves identifying and preventing the problems before they occur, (Seborg, Mellichamp, Edgar, and Doyle 2010). It focuses on regulating inputs such as human, material or financial resources flowing into the organization before time, to make sure that they meet the standards necessary for the transformation process. The advantage of feedforward controls is that they help prevent errors and problems that would otherwise occur if these measures were not installed, rather than solving them once they happen. They also assist managers in planning their works effectively. However, these controls demand that information given is timely and accurate for them to be effective. This is often difficult to achieve because it would need that operations are delayed to allow for analysis of the inputs to determine whether they meet the standards or not. Feedforward controls are also costly, and they can slow down the process of planning. For instance, recruiting the right kind of personnel which is highly skilled will be more expensive than hiring low skills or no untrained staff. It will also take more time.

The second type of operations control is referred to as concurrent control. This control is carried out while an activity is on-going, (Grossler, Thun, and Milling, 2008). It involves regulating activities in progress to determine whether they are conforming to the standards of the organization. The employee activities are measured against the organizations standard. It also involves ensuring that the activities are without errors and that they produce correct results. The main objective of concurrent control is to identify and prevent problems in the organization as they occur, that is, systems are monitored in real time. This means that products and services can be checked as they are being produced or performed to ensure that what is produced or performed is of the highest quality. The biggest advantage of concurrent control is that, since it occurs in real time, it allows for a problem to be corrected immediately it happens. An example would be a big restaurant that serves food to a large number of people. Food is served from the kitchen using a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt can be installed with cameras and sensors that detect problems as they occur. A manager can use the cameras to monitor the quality of service and make immediate decisions once he realizes a problem. The sensors would also sound an alarm for instance when the conveyor has been overloaded, and this will alert the people in the kitchen to correct the error. Concurrent control is also referred to as yes-no control since it involves checkpoints at which the management has to decide whether continue with the activity, take corrective action, or stop the activity altogether.

The third category of operations control is the feedback control, (Engell, 2007). This is carried out at the end of the transformation process after products have been produced and services provided. It is mostly used in the event that feedforward or concurrent controls are not feasible or too costly. In other cases, it is the only viable control available. Feedback control has several advantages. One, it helps the management assess how effective their planning effort was by evaluating the actual output against the planned output. If the results show little variance between the standard and actual performance, this is an indication that planning was generally on target. On the other hand, if what is produced is far less than the planned output, meaning the deviation is big, the manager is expected to use this information to formulate new strategies that are more efficient and will lead to increased productivity, (Engell, 2007). Second, feedback control can enhance employees motivation. For instance, if the organization has hit the pre-determined target, the employees will feel motivated to carry out another undertaking. If the result was below expectations, the employees could use this as a stepping stone to do better in the next operation. Third, feedback control can be utilized by the manager to lead her team better. The manager can use the data to inform the employees of their individual performance, better instruct them and motivate them to perform better.

However, feedback control has several drawbacks. The major one is that the information is received after the damage has been done, (Engell, 2007). This means that nothing can be done to correct the problem, other than using the information as a guide to prevent a repeat of the problem in future. This drawback makes this type of control not viable to be used for one-time, unique projects, and can only be used for the processes that are often repeated over time by an organization. To achieve effectiveness, the feedback control process must be broken down into four parts. One, what qualifies as good performance should be clearly established for the team to ensure that everyone understands the merits. The organization should come up with a strategy to measure the performance of the team and its members to determine whether the process is in line with the goals of the project. The performance of the team should be compared to the organizational standards using the predetermined metrics. Depending on the results, the manager will be required to make a change where necessary in the production process or the control system.

In the business of today, operational control is one of the management control systems being adopted by organizations, alongside organizational and strategic controls, for efficiency and effectiveness, (Malmi, and Brown, 2008). These management control systems are closely related and are monitored by performance measures and compliance indicators. Operational controls are derived from the requirements of the business management control system, and they focus on events that have happened in a recent period. They relate to operational activities like finance, human resource, production, and information technology. These controls are in respect to the daily input of materials, information, and energy, with the intention of adjusting them if need be. Operational controls serve to regulate these day-to-day activities in relation to set schedules, particular specifications and projected costs, through formulating policies and execution procedures. An example is in determining whether the output of a product or service is of high quality or whether it is available as scheduled. Where performance does not match standards, corrective actions are taken. These may include training, motivation, leadership, discipline or termination. The biggest problem with control is the difficulty in measurement of performance, the challenge of providing information in time, and coming up with proper standards.

The importance of operations control for the businesses in the present era cannot be underrated, (Weber and Schaffer, 2008). Control serves some roles in organizations. The first role is assisting the business to accomplish its organizational goals. The reason why controlling process is implemented is to take care of the laid down plans. The managements goal is to achieve best results with minimum deviations if any. Controlling allows for errors or deviations to be detected and corrective measures to be taken. Feedforward controls will allow for preventing possible problems before they happen. Concurrent controls allow for preventive measures in real time meaning that remedial action is carried out before the products or services get to the consumers. For this reason, controlling minimizes the difference between the expected results and the actual results.

Businesses use operations control to judge the accuracy of standards, (Weber, and Schaffer, 2008). Every organization has its unique standards depending on the industry it is operating. These standards act as the measure of quality for the products or services provided by the business. It is the function of control to gauge the degree to which these standards are reflected in the performance of the enterprise. Through controlling, a manager compares the performance of his team against the established standards. If the standards are more of general rules and need to be redefined, then the manager will ensure that this is corrected. If the performance is below the standards, then remedial actions will need to be taken to align the performance back to the right track.

The control function is also used in proper coordination of activities through the unity of actions, (Kerzner, 2013). Every department has set goals, and departmental managers will strive to coordinate the activities of their team members to achieve these targets. Similarly, the executive will coordinate the functioning of the various departments. Therefore, control acts as a bridge between the management and the employees to provide the required information to the workers in real time. Proper performance is only achieved where activities are properly coordinated.

Operations control is used as a basis for future action. Evaluation of results, once the work is completed, will act as a guide for the management on the weaknesses of the planning process and therefore, the improvements that need to be done to avoid the same problem occurring in future. Feedback controls are the best in guiding the management on the next course of action. These results are the grounds for the corrective actions that need to be carried out on the employees, depending on their performance. This could be rewarding, disciplining, training, or terminating those whose performance is below expectations. In this light, it is evident that future long-term planning would be difficult without the availability of timely control information to the managers for the operation of work.

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