Essence of Coordination: Coordination is the process of integrating and harmonizing the activities and efforts of individuals and departments within an organization to ensure that they work towards a common goal. It involves creating synergy, promoting collaboration, and minimizing conflicts and duplication of efforts. The essence of coordination lies in achieving unity of action, maximizing efficiency, and facilitating effective communication and cooperation among various parts of the organization. Coordination helps in streamlining operations, improving productivity, and enhancing overall organizational performance.
Different Control Techniques: Control techniques are tools and methods used by managers to monitor, measure, and regulate the performance and progress of organizational activities. Here are some different control techniques commonly used in management:
- Bureaucratic Control: Bureaucratic control relies on establishing rules, policies, procedures, and hierarchical structures to ensure compliance and standardization. It involves detailed job descriptions, performance evaluations, and a formal chain of command. Bureaucratic control is often associated with traditional, hierarchical organizations.
- Market Control: Market control involves using market mechanisms to regulate and influence the behavior of individuals and departments within an organization. It includes techniques such as pricing, competition, market forces, and customer feedback to incentivize performance and achieve desired outcomes.
- Clan Control: Clan control is based on creating a culture of shared values, norms, and beliefs within an organization. It relies on social influence, peer pressure, and self-regulation to guide employee behavior and ensure adherence to organizational objectives. Clan control emphasizes teamwork, collaboration, and a sense of belonging.
- Output Control: Output control focuses on measuring and evaluating the results and outcomes of organizational activities. It involves setting performance targets, key performance indicators (KPIs), and benchmarks to assess the achievement of goals. Output control is outcome-oriented and emphasizes accountability for results.
- Process Control: Process control focuses on monitoring and managing the activities and processes involved in achieving organizational goals. It involves defining and standardizing workflows, analyzing process efficiency, and implementing continuous improvement methods. Process control aims to optimize operations and enhance performance at each stage of the process.
Management by Exception: Management by exception is a control technique that involves focusing management attention on significant deviations or exceptions from predetermined standards or plans. Instead of closely monitoring every detail, managers concentrate on handling and addressing only those situations that fall outside the normal range. The key idea behind management by exception is that managers should intervene and take action when there are significant deviations that may impact the achievement of goals or require corrective measures.
By using management by exception, managers can save time and resources by focusing their attention on critical issues, problems, or opportunities that require immediate attention or intervention. It allows them to delegate routine tasks and decision-making to subordinates, while they focus on handling exceptional or unusual situations. Management by exception enhances efficiency, improves decision-making speed, and ensures that managers are involved in critical matters without being overwhelmed by routine operations.