The Control Function of Management Essay (Article)

Introduction

Control is a vital function of management in ensuring business’s success. Control is geared to monitoring organizational goals while comparing them with actual performances and giving the way forward on the progress of attaining the goals (Gurvis 10-230). Managers adopt diverse strategies pertinent to control functions with the aims of driving their firms towards achieving set goals (Schraeder, Self and Jordan 52-62).This article gives a description of controlling practices of Target Corporation. Specifically, the paper describes the Target’s operational and financial control practices.

Operational control

Target adopted a centralized management and repeated operational control practices for a number of years before adopting the current relatively flexible and agile approaches. The operational practices have changed with the changing customer trends.The Target operational control is geared to the regulation of daily employees’ performances in comparison to set goals. It is worth noting that Target monitor day-to-day performances and celebrate their success, strategies for future and look forward to new opportunities (Target Brands 1).The Target managerial structure facilitate teamwork in daily operations. As such, the processes of meeting set objectives and goals are enhanced.Apparently, the retail market in the US is extremely competitive and, therefore, Target employs control methods that allow close supervision of employees in order to realize the best customer services.Supervision of employees is done in a friendly manner, which boosts employees’ morale. As such, employees tend to be more efficient in providing customers with the best services possible.Goals are set and achieved fast since the working environment is fun with friendly supervisors and colleagues. Innovation and exchange of ideas among employees is highly encouraged. Therefore, the laying of strategies on meeting set goals is relatively decentralized.Many managers find it somewhat difficult to monitor individual employees’ behavior and compare them with performances (Pang and Li 103-111). As such, individualized reward and punishment may face challenges in most firms. Target operational control lays emphasis on group performances and overall output as opposed to individual control. Therefore, group motivation and measurement of performance is adopted since it is less likely to be affected by supervisors’ subjective judgments (Abasa and Ottob 5-20).

Financial control

Organizational success is dependent on its financial control practices (Raghunandan, Ramgulam, and Raghunandan-Mohammed 110-117). Therefore, businesses should have effective financial practices.Target has adopted centralized financial control. It has a somewhat independent department with the mandate to tighten financial control within the firm (Target Brands 1). The department is responsible for general accounting, formulation/implementation of financial policies.Target’s control processes entail all pertinent organizational activities that affect finance. Some of the key areas of focus include credit risk control, monitoring of performance indicators, and budgetary control. Precisely, the Target financial control purpose is to analyze financial management system and all related systems.The success of Target’s financial control can be linked to the top management efforts of appreciation of healthy interdepartmental relationships. Target’s managerial departments are interrelated and they work towards attaining common organizational goals (Target Brands 1). For instance, financial control motivates employees, especially when required budgetary goals are attained. On the other hand, employees’ culture and management attitudes towards employees determine financial achievements.

Conclusion

Control is a vital function of management and should be done in proper manners to enhance businesses’ growth and success. The Target’s control practices have made the corporation realize growth and success to become among the top performing retail companies in the US. This paper has given a description of Target’s operational and financial controls.

Works Cited

Abasa, Nurul Ain Hidayah binti and Kathleen Ottob. “Interpersonal Mistreatment, Organizational Attitudes and Well-Being: The Impact of Instigator’s Hierarchical Position and Demographic Characteristics.” Organization Management Journal, 13.1 (2016): 5-20. Print.

Gurvis, Sandra. Management Basics: A Practical Guide for Managers. Avon: Adams Media, 2007. Print.

Pang, Yanhong and Qing Li. “Game Analysis of Internal Control and Risk Management.” International Journal of Business and Management, 8.17 (2013): 103-111. Print.

Raghunandan, Moolchand, Narendra Ramgulam and Koshina Raghunandan-Mohammed. “Examining the Behavioural Aspects of Budgeting with particular emphasis on Public Sector/Service Budgets.” International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3.14 (2012): 110-117. Print.

Schraeder, Mike, et al. “The Functions of Management as Mechanisms for Fostering Interpersonal Trust.” Advances in Business Research, 5 (2014): 52-62. Print.

Target Brands, 2016. “Culture”. Target Brands. Web.