Control Techniques
1. Budgeting techniques

a. Involves a very practical approach for carrying on with the controlling process.
b. Budgets are very future oriented and largely depends on the forecasting trends based on the past.
c. Budgeting depicts the forecasting trends mainly depending on the finance and the connected numerical information.
d. This technique acts as a very critical and an important tool for comparing what one has planned and what is the actual performance against it.
e. But the main drawback of this technique is that it takes into account the past performance as the only guide, which at times can prove to be short.
f. As a result of this, the whole package has to be worked out on the zero bases.

2. The Activities Network control

a. Forms a very critical and a necessary part of the management tool.
b. Here the performance of the various activities is compared and then depending on this, one comes to know about the various deviations and then accordingly the activities can be controlled.
c. Various techniques like the Gantt Charts, the Program Evaluation and the Review Techniques etc are used for performing the various activities.

3. Statistical database control

a. In this method, the generation of the Statistical data coupled with the planning system is generated, mainly for the management control system.
b. Special reports like the market prospects, the customers survey findings etc. are used as a feedback for the different activities involved and these activities can be based on the criteria of per person or per machine or per activity.
c. The data can involve the relations or the trends, which can be easily extrapolated.
d. For controlling the deviations and to know about them, the audits like the statutory audits, the performance audits, the cost audits etc., can be carried out.

4. Personal observations
a. This technique acts as a great tool for controlling and bringing the system back to having a very sound health.
b. In many cases, the eyes act as the best tool for noticing the overbalancing in the people, their working, and the environment.
c. A lot of time is saved by this technique.
d. The personal observation avoids much of the paper work.
e. One of the best methods used here is the ‘Wandering Around’ method.
f. In this method, wandering around is taken as a regular exercise and the work monotony is used.
g. People are not allowed to get stuck into their cabins for long periods of the time as with this, a gap is created between the relationships and the environmental attachment.

5. Social Controls

a. The managers possessing the objective view of the outsiders are helped a lot by this technique.
b. The users clubs of the customers, the supplier’ s club, the dealer’s club, the employees clubs etc. can be organized easily with this method.

6. Systems and the Procedures

a. Manuals form very necessary documents for bringing some rigidity in the operation.
b. It helps in creating a judicial system for an organization.
c. Management audits can be conducted sometimes in this technique to reduce the lacunae that may be present in an organization.

7. Management by the Objectives

a. Acts as a great tool for the control purpose.
b. By having a clear picture of the various objectives in mind, one can easily plan the various controls.
c. Management can be observed as the people working for the measurable goals, deciding the output at the end of an activity.

Automation in the Controls
1. Computers

a. Acts as a great sensing device.
b. The real time controls have been made possible with the help of the computers.
c. All the fields of the management in today’s world have been pervaded by the computers.
d. Acts as a great platform for the information, the communication, the discussions etc.
e. Various automatic controls like the bells, the buzzers, the alarm etc. act as very good examples of the various equipments being used in the process of the controlling, as these are linked to the central computers.
f. The conversion to the recording and the broadcasting information can be done easily with the help of the computers.

2. The Communication Tools

a. The remote control of the various managerial activities is now possible because of the easy movement of the remote communication, which has been made easy by the various improvements and the performances that have taken place in the technology.
b. The home office has now become a reality.
c. The work hours have become more flexible in the nature.

3. The development of the software

a. Now days so many software packages have come up, which are having their own control systems.
b. The softwares play a very important role in the development of the working controls.

For a very good working of an organization, the steps are needed to be taken right from the starting. Great emphasis should be given on the structure of an organization, while carrying out the designing process of an organization. The process that involves the manning of an organization is referred to as the staffing. There is no life to the activities of an organization but then also the organization is manned with the help of the humans.

The real and exact meaning of the word staffing refers to the fitting of the people to the various jobs or the positions and vice versa. In this process, first a man is approved, followed by the approval of the job. One very important point that is very important to be remembered here for the process of the staffing is that the main focus is not on to how to find a suitable person for a certain job but the major point on which great emphasis is given involves how to fit a person into a certain job.

Staffing generally includes the filling of the various work positions and the maintenance of these positions that are generally required overtime and fully manned by the competent people. In this process, the various people are invited, then choices are made and then the selected one’s are fixed with the responsibility of the work and doing this again and again whenever required in a well maintained manner also forms a very critical and an essential part of the process of the staffing.

Staffing sometimes has to be done in the nature of the owners, the promoters etc. and that too much ahead of the structure of the organization and the main reason behind carrying out the process of the staffing here is that the formation of the business and the structure of the building is a human activity.

Basic features of the Human Resource
1. Not at all a standardized resource.
2. Involves some degree of the expectations and the expected results.
3. Presence of the uncertainty factor.
4. Humans involve the rationality and the various perspectives of the thinking and doing things.
5. Emotions form a very major part.
6. Involves the use of the mental equipment intelligence.
7. Ability to react differently at different times depending on the situations or the conditions that arise during an activity.
8. Possess the properties that are very essential for leading any team etc.
9. Supported by a nature that likes to live with the companions.
10. The team spirit is lacking.
11. Availability of the knowledge, the skills, the values, the experience etc.

Different Stages of the Staffing
1. Man – Power Planning:

a. For performing this step in a very efficient manner, the knowledge about the total staff requirement of an organization is very important.
b. A ready organization chart helps a lot in the man power planning as with the help of the organization chart, one comes to know about – the people who are working, the job involved, the age and the designation of the employees, the years of the work within the organization.
c. An up to date Inventory chart is very much crucial for carrying out the planning of the man power.

2. Position Announcement

a. Involves the advertising, informing the recruiting companies etc.
b. Also at times, involves announcing in the company itself.
c. Depends on the organization or the management of the organization to decide to transfer the internal staff for filling certain vacancy or calling the outsiders for the filling of the various vacancies.
d. Great emphasis is given on the control of the cost during this step.
e. Major steps that are or can be performed during the position announcement can be summarized as the follows

I. Advertising with the media.
II. Targeting certain areas for better working.
III. Deciding the selection criteria.
IV. Deciding the ways for carrying on the interviews in a good phased manner.

3. Interviewing

a. The major steps involved in the process of the interviewing can be summarized as the follows

I. Short – listing of the candidates who have applied for the vacancy.
II. Confirming the interview methodology.
III. Drawing the interview program.
IV. Informing about this program to the prospective applicants.

b. There was a time when the method explained above was the most commonly used methods for carrying on the process of the staffing but this method consumes a lot of time and has now given way to the method called as the ‘Walk – in Interviews’.
c. In this method, the time consumed is comparatively much lesser and the preliminary yes or the no is decided as soon as the man walks in.
d. Great emphasis is given on the communication of the expectations of an organization.

4. Appointment

a. It is very necessary to communicate the results of an interview immediately as far as possible as a part of the business etiquette.
b. Those who are selected should be given the appointment letter.
c. Those who are not selected should be informed immediately as with the help of this, the anxiety in these persons can be decreased.
d. One more point that is very necessary is that the confirmation about the candidates who are joining must be obtained, so that the further things can be planned in a good manner.

5. Induction

a. Induction can be defined as the process of the welcoming of a new person in a job.
b. For properly utilizing the potential of the humans, it is very necessary that the new person assimilates with in the work ethos and the culture.
c. The new person should be made comfortable and familiar to the day to day activities.
d. The work manual that includes the rules and regulations of an organization is also given to the new person. This work manual is also referred to as the ‘induction manual’.
e. The identity card is also given to the new person.

6. Orientation

a. It is very important that each of the members of an organization is well oriented towards the philosophy of the organization.
b. For achieving this orientation, the person should be made to read the concept of the orientation from the manual.

Steps essential for making staffing more meaningful

1. Succession planning

a. It is necessary to keep in view the age distribution.
b. Great focus should be laid on making the people succeed as this will have a lot in the continuation of an organization.
c. Presence of a judicious mixture of all the ages is a must.

2. Social planning

a. First aim of all the organizations should be to serve the society.
b. The various responsibilities towards the society must not be ignored as good working of the society is not at all a solo effort but it is a group effort.
c. Organizations should represent the society.

3. Legal approval

a. For acting as a person, the organization needs a legal sanction.
b. For this purpose, every country possesses some laws incorporating the social organizations as the legal entities.
c. The minimum wages, the welfare facilities, the various laws for the competition are decided with the help of the various industrial laws present.
d. No one is completely free to decide one’s own staffing policy.

4. Building a learning organization

a. Large emphasis is given on building the creativity within the staff.
b. For tackling the various competitive situations in a good confident manner, one must possess great amount of the innovative spirit and for this development of a learning culture is very much necessary.

5. Career management

a. It is very necessary for an organization to take care of the building of the careers of the organization members as they do not get enough time to put their own time in the development.
b. The organization must play the role of a mentor.

6. Building teams

a. For meaningful staffing process, it is very important in today’s competitive scenario that the work is done by building groups or teams.
b. By working in teams, one can learn a lot of things and the qualities of a person like the cooperation, leading teams etc. can be learnt and then incorporated into the working style.

7. Building of the work ethos and the culture

a. Complementing and substituting of the staff is very critical as by this a sense of the working spirit can be nurtured into the staff.
b. All this helps in the development of the work ethos and the culture.