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The overview of Planning and Control as an indispensable companion. An article written by Sunday Peter Tinuoye (MBA ATBU, Bauchi, B.Sc. Business Administration ABU Zaria, ANIMN, Cert. Computer). Control is a managerial function, which Lyman and Carlo (1978) defined as “ the measurement and correction of subordinate in order to make sure that the enterprise objectives and plans devised to attain are being accomplished. “Denyer (1979) went further to say that “Effective management control consists of verifying everything occurring, confronting with the plans adopted, the instructions issued and principles established.” According to Beach (1992), management or managerial planning seeks consistent, integrated and articulated programmes while management control seeks to compel events to conform to plan. There is no way managers can determine whether, the units of the organisation are accomplishing what was desired and expected unless they fist know what is expected. It is useless to design control without first taking into accounts plans and how well they are made. One of the most frustrating situation, managers confront themselves is in knowing something is wrong in the operation and not knowing exactly where the responsibility for the trouble lies. Hence, every manager would want to have an adequate and effective system of control to assist him in making sure that event conforms to plan. To achieve this, control must be designed for specific task, and persistently are expected to serve. The control must also be specifically tailored to plan and position, individual managers and their personnel, and the need for efficiency and effectiveness. Raywild (1992) therefore said that management continuously monitor performance and maintain good checks and balances at all factors of production which include materials, machines and labour are directed properly towards achieving the desired goals which is customer’s satisfaction. In any production in an organisation, management develops ways of controlling the various operating part of the entire production so that it performs as desired. This it achieves through the introduction of

certain measured or devices such as check point, time, and standards to monitor, detects and control its operation. Essentially these measures are adopted to effectively; contribute to the corporate objectives and goals establish standards establish strategic control points establish good communication between and among all workers establish and ensure corrective action and flexible controls ensure organisational compatibility facilitate motivation patterns and processes control accountability which leads to high quality specification and good product reliability. Effective management control is a system of control that tells in advance what problems that will occur during production processes and corrective actions proffered. It will also help the staff of the organization to know the problems and appreciate the solutions the study will proffer. DEFINITION OF CONTROL Kootz and O’Donnel (1983) defined control “as measurement of accomplishment of events against the standard of plans and the correction of deviation to ensure attainment of objectives according to plans”. Breach (1961), gave a formal definition, as “guiding and regulating the resources and activities of a business or any of it’s part by means of management judgement, decisions and actions with the purpose of attaining agreed objectives.” The Encyclopaedia Britannica defined control in business management as the varieties of method used to control the operations of a business firm, they include accounting procedure, financial ratio analysis etc.” Griffin (1984) defined control as “the regulation of organizational activity in such a way as to facilitate goal attainment”. Nwadialo (1985) said that a control system need to be effective and efficient, and business organization comprises of people, the effectiveness of management control systems where not only dependent on the technical Necessities which they incorporate but also manner in which plans are agreed and performance level set and on the willingness of individuals to operate the system”.

This system talks about human behaviour at work. It is very impossible for one to talk of effective management control without putting human resources into consideration. It is also time that setting performance standard without adequate plan and technical skills to accomplish the standard may not mean much to the business concerned. Therefore, managers who set the standards must show exactly what meets the required standards; you need good materials, good skills and good equipments. Control may be installed to provide feedback to management on customer satisfaction, on gross profit margin. If management does not respond to the warning signs highlighted by the activity for example, management must first establish certain general target to achieve the desired objectives before the business should grow and develop. As financial year progresses, management can assess how the final picture is likely to emerge. If statistical evidence suggests that continued pursuing correct [policies, the system will not produce the expected result and then, ways have to be found to correct the situation. In this ways, management can keep his fingers on the purpose of the business and can thus know which to react to prevent a potential situation from getting worse. One major objective in management control in production operation is to maximize profit and minimize loss. Apart from this, it should be noted that control has other functions such as:i) ensuring good productivity ii) ensuring that operations and standards are met iii) evaluating and improving on the methods of production iv) comparing and analyzing loss in relation to sales. Therefore, the researchers are of the opinion that you cannot think of any control measure without plan of performance level. You can only control event so as to meet the desired standard. The quality assurance manager of any production concern can analyze and predict in advance, how many factors of production in terms of concentrates, water and sugar are expected in the factory?, how many workers are required?, how much of each of the items are required for the day’s production in order to meet customer’s satisfaction?.

Brech (1961), says management continues with organizing and motivating activities and ends with controlling activities. The control of management therefore, rounds off the total process of managing the human, material and financial resources of an organization. It’s primary aim is to measure performance against standard with a view to enabling corrective action to be taken to keep the plan on course. It plans to represent the map route for the journey, then organizing represented the means by which one could arrive at the target goal or choosing destination. ELEMENTS OF AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL SYSTEM Whatever the nature of control, there are five essential elements in an organizational control system:planning what is desired establishing standard of performance comparing actual achievement against the planned target, and rectifying and taking corrective action. Planning what is desired: Planning what is desired involves clarification of the aims to be achieved. It is important that people understand exactly what is required of them. This requires that objectives and targets are specified clearly, and given some measurable attributes. Planning provides the framework against which the process of control takes place. Defined standards of performance: - Related to planning is the establishment of defined standards of performance against the level of success that can be determined. Whenever possible, these measurements should be stated in quantitative terms. Planning and measurements are prerequisites of control. Without them, there can be no control. Objectives and targets and standards of performance, should be stated clearly and communicated to those concerned and to those who are subject to the operation of the control system. Monitoring and comparing performance:- The third aspect of control is the need for a means of monitoring actual performance. This requires feedback and a system of reporting information, which is accurate, relevant and timely, and in a form that enables the

management to highlight deviations from the planned standard of performance. Feedback also provides the basis for decisions to adjust the control system, for example the need to revise the original plan. Feedback should relate to both the desired end results and the means designed to achieve them. Compare actual performance against planned targets: - Next, it is necessary to compare actual performance against targets. This requires a means of interpreting and evaluating information in order to give details of progress, reveal deviations and identify probable causes. This information should be feedback to those concerned to let them know how well they are getting on. Corrective action: - the final statement of a management control system is the taking of corrective action to rectify the situation which has led to the failure to achieve objectives or targets, or other forms of deviations identified. This requires consideration of what can be done to improve performance. It requires the authority to take appropriate action to correct the situation, to review the operation of the control system and to make any necessary adjustments and objectives and targets or to the standard of performance. FORMS OF CONTROL Control is far reaching; it can serve a number of functions and can be manifested in a number of different forms: Control systems can focus on the measurement of inputs, outputs, processes or the behaviour of people Control can be concerned with general results or specific actions. Control can be concerned with an evaluation of overall performance of the organization as a whole or with major parts of it. This requires broadly based standard of performance and remedies for corrective action. Total control, concerned with all areas of the organization, can be seen as part of total quality management programme. Control can be concerned with management and performance of day-to-day operational activities. This calls for more specific standards of performance and speedy corrective actions.

CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR THE EXISTENCE OF A CONTROL SYSTEM There are four necessary conditions for the existence of a control function: i) There must be a specific set of time at which a choice of action is possible. ii) At each time, there must be a specified set of actions from which to choose. iii) A model must exist which can predict the future history of the system under every possible choice. iv) There must be a criterion or objectives on which the choice of action is based by a comparison of the predicted behaviour of the system with the outcome are explored and the best selected. In practice, it is often not possible to do this as either the number of alternatives is too great or some factors are difficult to determine. Hence, a decision which is probably sub-optional may have to be accepted.

METHODS USED IN PRODUCTION CONTROL OPERATIONS According to Griffin (1984), control is the means by which the manager measures how effectively the plans are been carried out. Once plans are made and a business starts operating, the production manager needs to become involved in the control of production. Planning does not stop however, so the manager now has to handle the responsibilities of both planning and control. Although a variety of management science models, tools and techniques are appropriate for production control, five in particular are used most often:Programme Evaluation Review Techniques (PERT):- This is a network technique for diagramming and interrelating various activities associated with a project. The control function of PERT analysis is to control time and/or cost for a project. Linear Programming:- This is an approach to determining simultaneously solutions to a set of linear equations representing objectives and constraints. The control function of linear programming is to optimize the objectives.

Break-even Analysis:- This is a technique for determining the number of units that must be sold to cover fixed and variable cost. The control function of break-even analysis is to determine whether cost has yet been covered on a project. Queuing Theory:- This is an approach to the management of time spent waiting in line. The purpose of queuing theory for control is to determine the optional numbers of writing lines necessary to balance the cost of maintaining enough lines against the cost of living customer due to offering an adequate number of lines. Inventory Control:- The last major element of operation control is inventory control. It is the management of inventory levels so that shortage, carrying and ordering costs are optimized. When a firm maintains a level of inventory that is too low, frequent shortage results, sales may be cost and customer will complain. On the other hand, when inventory levels are too high, the organization pays large storage costs and ties up capital unnecessarily. Another factor is that frequent re-ordering results in higher administrative and transport cost. This approach revolved around the concept of economic order quantity, EOQ, expressed mathematically indicating how much inventory should be ordered to optimize the factor we have cited above. Both time and cost can be effectively monitored with PERT. Linear Programming helps the manager maximize objectives such as sales or output that are subject to known constraints. Although break-even analysis is primarily a technique for financial control, it also helps production managers determining the number of units that have to be produced and sold in order to cover costs. Queuing theory helps organize and control writing lines in a way that optimize cost and waiting time. However, Weis & Gershon (1989) mentioned that to control operations, the manager must have a way of getting as much useful information as fast as possible through the Management Information System (MIS). EFFECTIVE CONTROL SYSTEM Managers can do a great deal to improve the effectiveness of their control systems. The five most important steps that managers can take are to integrate control with planning and to make sure that control is:

Integrating Control and Planning:- The most important factor in effectively integrating planning and control is to account for control as plans are developed. This is applicable especially to firms that produce more than one product. A basic aspect of the firms strategy could be to emphasize on innovation and new product development. Consequently, a percentage of the firm’s sale will be fixed to be the derived from products that did not exist five years before. To counter balance this, top management also reviews each product every year. Products that are not yielding an acceptable return on investment may be dropped. The emphasis on innovation is an element of strategy, the annual review of existing products, an element of control. However, a careful integration of planning and control can improve the effectiveness of both sets of activities. Flexibility:- Another characteristic of an effective control system is flexibility. That is, the control system itself must be flexible enough to accommodate changes. An organization for example, whose diverse product line requires 75 different raw materials, it’s inventory control systems must be able to manage and monitor current levels of inventory for all 75 materials. When a change in the product line changes the number of raw materials needed, or when the required quantities of any of the materials change, the control system should be able to accommodate the revised requirements. Hence designing and implementing a new control system would be an unnecessary expense. Accuracy:- Control system must also be accurate. This seems obvious enough, but it is surprising how many managers base decisions on inaccurate information. Sales representatives in the field may hedge their sales estimate to make themselves look better. Production managers may hide cost to meet their targets. Personnel managers may overestimate their minority recruiting prospects to meet affirmative action goals. In each case, the information received by higher management is inaccurate. And, denied accurate measurement and reporting of performance, higher management may take inappropriate action. If sales estimates are artificially high, a manger might either cut advertising or increase advertising. In either case the action may not be appropriate. Similarly, having been fed artificially low production cost, a manager who is unaware of the hidden costs may quote a sale price much lower that desirable. The accuracy of control systems goes a long way to prevent such damaging outcomes.

Timeliness:- Another characteristic of an effective control system is that it provides information in a timely way. Timeliness doesn’t necessary mean speed; it simply means as often as is suitable for that which is being controlled. In a retail store, sales results are usually needed daily so that cash flow can be managed, advertising and promotion adjusted, and so on, physically inventory counts; however it may be taken only quarterly or even annually. When a new product comes on the market, managers may need frequent sales reports to gauge public acceptance. For order, more established products; sales reports are needed less often. Objectivity:- In so far as possible, the information provided by the control system should be objective. Indeed, objectivity is not everything and managers need to look beyond the numbers when making decisions. The control system ideally provides objective information to the manager for evaluation and action, but the manager must take appropriate precaution in interpreting it. SUMMARY OF REVIEW Control is one of the four basic managerial functions. It seeks to regulate organizational activities in such a way as to facilitate goal attainment. Organizational control can focus on almost any organizational activity or set of activities. In general, control is directed towards financial, physical, information and human resources. Organizational control is important because of ever changing conditions, the possibility of compounding errors, and the complexity of organizations.

REFERENCES Lyman and Carlo (1978) Introduction to Business Enterprise (4th Ed.) International Students Edition, McGraw – Hill International Book Company. Denyer (1979) Student Guide to Principles of Management. Zieus Press (2nd Ed.) p 91 – 92. Breach (1961) The Principles and Practice of Management (9th Ed.) Hazel Waston and Vincy Ltd. P 520 – 521. Koontz & O’Donnel (1984) Management (7th Ed.) McGraw – Hill Inc. Book Company Aukland, p 717. Ricky (1984a) Management, Houghton Muffin Company Boston, p512 The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1968) Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. (15th Ed.), p 58. Nwadialo (1985) Developing Effective Control Techniques, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Paper presented, p.5 Breach (1961) The Principles and Practice of Management (9th Ed.) Hazel Waston and Vincy Ltd. P 522 – 523. Ricky (1984b) Management, Houghton Muffin Company Boston, p523 – 526. Weis & Gershon (1989), Production and Operations Management. Allyn and Bacon Boston, p. 468. NBC Newsletter Vol. 10, No. 15, 2000 p.10 Murray and Larry (1999). Statistics. McGraw – Hill Book Co. Singapore (3rd Ed.) p 100.