10 Characteristics of Management Control, its Functions and Criterion

We explain what management control is and what its main objectives are. In addition, its general characteristics, operation, and more.

What is management control?

Management control is a process that aims to evaluate and measure the objectives that are previously established by the direction or management within a company.

Management control is an indicator that measures the consequences of actions that were implemented in the past. These data must be real, reliable, and clear to avoid misinterpretations.

In addition, it allows you to determine if your organization is successful or if you need to make some changes and improvements. Specifically, management control aims at planning and obtaining objectives in relation to the budget set in the short term.

Management control features :

Target

The concept of management control begins to have relevance together with the growing market and high competitiveness. This caused companies to pay special attention to every detail (both internal and external) to minimize their errors and be able to be increasingly competitive.

In this way, the objective of management control is to make companies more competitive in a market with high demands, and this is where its importance lies.

Control

As the word indicates, this feature is based on the observation, measurement, and correction of the process, always taking into account cost and quality. The objective of the control is to correct and direct the system or product to achieve the proposed objectives.

Competitiveness

The competitiveness parameter must be taken into account in any company that wants to make a difference with the rest. And this is not possible without a thorough analysis of the competitor. There are two types of competition:

• Direct competition. It is one that has a product or service with characteristics similar to that of the company in question.
• Indirect competition. It is that competition that does not have a similar product or service but that in one or more points manages to be a replacement for the consumer.

Planning

In management control it is important to determine what is going to be implemented . Therefore planning must be thorough, precise and clear with measurable objectives. For this, the company can make use of policies, campaigns or programs.

Organization

A correct organization is essential. For this, the company can make divisions into different management units . Each management unit has its executives and employees. Often a unit has objectives to meet for the specific or central objective of the company.

Functioning

For a management control system to be viable, it must be understandable, that is, clear in its wording and easily accessible to the company. At the same time, it must be fast, flexible, and inexpensive.

Current competitive conditions

Every company must focus on different variables such as:

• Costs and expenses
• Communication
• Transport
• Products and/or services

An adequate management control takes into account all these variables to achieve the goals that the company set itself as an organization in the short, medium, or long term.

The efficiency criterion

This criterion is evaluated taking into account the number of resources that had been allocated for the use of a certain task in relation to the actual or used resources. There is greater efficiency when the real resources are lower than the resources originally scheduled.

The criterion of effectiveness

It takes into account the fulfillment of the objectives. The effectiveness is the relationship established between the objectives agreed and actual. However, taking into account this single variable can lead to the failure of the company.

The criterion of effectiveness

This factor exposes the impact of the service or product that the company produces. It refers to the fact that the product must be adequate in terms of quantity and quality in order to satisfy the customer.

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