Unit 6 Notes

1. Feed-forward
a. Sometimes called preliminary or preventive controls, attempt to identify and
prevent deviations in the standards before they occur. Feedforward controls
focus on human, material, and financial resources within the organization. These
controls are evident in the selection and hiring of new employees. For example,
organizations attempt to improve the likelihood that employees will perform up
to standards by identifying the necessary job skills and by using tests and other
screening devices to hire people with those skills.
2. Feed-concurrent
a. Monitor ongoing employee activity to ensure consistency with quality standards.
These controls rely on performance standards, rules, and regulations for guiding
employee tasks and behaviors. Their purpose is to ensure that work activities
produce the desired results. As an example, many manufacturing operations
include devices that measure whether the items being produced meet quality
standards. Employees monitor the measurements; if they see that standards are
not being met in some area, they make a correction themselves or let a manager
know that a problem is occurring.
3. Feedback
a. Involves reviewing information to determine whether performance meets
established standards. For example, suppose that an organization establishes a
goal of increasing its profit by 12 percent next year. To ensure that this goal is
reached, the organization must monitor its profit on a monthly basis. After three
months, if profit has increased by 3 percent, management might assume that
plans are going according to schedule.
4. Formal 4 step control system
i. Setting expectations (policy and procedure)
ii. Observing performance and behavior
iii. Measuring and comparing step 2 against step 1
iv. Feedback, either punishment or reward

Unit 6 Discussion Board

1. Less than 12-month-old article on control systems
2. Reference and link to article
3. Summarize what you learned and how it relates to this unit topic

Unit 6 Assignment
1. Assume you are the CEO of the same business from previous units
2. Your employees have been logging incorrect hours
3. Implement a formal 4 step control system in the form of an addition to your employee
handbook regarding how to log hours
a. What steps for an employee to take leave (time off)
b. How an employee should log their hours
c. What is acceptable and what is unacceptable when logging hours
Midterm Information
1. Units 3, 4, 5, and 6

Midterm Review
1. Which type of control is future oriented?
a. Feed-forward
2. When you have a horizontal structure that you divide into smaller units, what is this
process called?
a. Departmentalization
3. What kind of power is the power over punishment?
a. Coercive punishment
4. What is a standing plan?
a. Standing plans are often policies, procedures and programs developed to ensure
the internal operations of a given business are operating smoothly. Standing
plans are often developed once and then modified to suit the business' needs as
required
5. Control is enhanced when it concentrates on what?
a. Principal of exception
6. What is another word for aversive action?
a. Punishment
7. A leader with this kind of power has the right to tell others what to do.
a. Legitimate
8. When you are formally planning something, the planning process considers
a. Past events, current events, and future events (analyzing the situation)
9. First step in feed-forward section of a control system?
a. Setting performance standards (expectation)
10. Bureaucratic control
a. Using rules, regulations, and authority to guide a system
11. Positive reinforcement accomplishes what?
a. Stop repeat negative actions
12. Assigning different tasks to different people or groups within an organization
a. Division of labor
13. Outcome of situational analysis
a. Identification and diagnosis of planning, issues, and problems
14. When all of the decisions are made from the executive level, what kind of organization
is this?
a. Centralized organization
15. What are the effects of motivation?
a. Energize, direct, and sustain a person’s efforts
16. Market control
a. Price and economics attached to a control system
17. Setting a level of expected performance is known as:
a. Setting a standard
18. What is the most important reason to delegate?
a. Saves a manger time