control
the process of ensuring that activities are carried out as intended. Control involves monitoring aspects of performance and taking corrective action where necessary. For instance, control of expenditure involves regular monitoring of expenditure figures, comparison of these with budget targets, and decisions to cut or increase expenditure where any discrepancy is believed to be harmful. Without control an ORGANIZATION cannot function: employees would go their own way (possibly with the best of intentions) and the organization would fragment, making COORDINATION impossible. Control can, therefore, be viewed as a central component of MANAGEMENT. Some writers in the SOCIOLOGY OF WORK have argued that, since (in their view) employers' and employees' interests are opposed, control of labour is the main task of management. Without it, workers would behave in a way which is detrimental to managerial goals. Research has shown, however, that many managers attach more importance to other managerial functions (such as budgeting), whilst it is questionable whether employees would necessarily act in the way suggested. See ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS.
Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson