Business Studies: Controlling

Vocabulary flashcards covering the definition, importance, limitations, relationship to planning, and steps of the controlling process in business management.

Departure Control System (DCS)

A system that automates airline airport management operations, including passenger check-in, printing boarding passes, baggage acceptance, boarding load control, and aircraft checks.

Passenger Name Record (PNR)

A record in an airline computer reservation system that contains passenger reservation details captured and updated by a Departure Control System.

Controlling

A managerial function that involves monitoring organizational activities to ensure they conform to planned standards and verifying that resources are utilized effectively and efficiently.

Managerial Control (Koontz and O'Donnell)

The measurement of accomplishment against the standard and the correction of deviations to assure attainment of objectives according to plans.

Pervasive Function of Management

A characteristic indicating that controlling is required across all levels of management (top, middle, and lower) and in all types of organizations, whether business or non-business.

Judging Accuracy of Standards

A benefit of controlling that enables management to verify whether established benchmarks are realistic and objective in light of environmental and internal changes.

Quantitative Standards

Performance benchmarks expressed in measurable numerical figures, such as units produced, sales volume, time spent, or costs incurred.

Qualitative Standards

Performance benchmarks set for areas that are difficult to measure in exact numerical terms, such as employee morale, customer satisfaction, or organizational goodwill.

Planning-Controlling Relationship

The reciprocal dynamic where planning prescribes the benchmarks required for controlling, and controlling evaluates performance to provide feedback for future plans.

Backward-Looking Function

An aspect of controlling involving a postmortem examination of past activities to identify deviations from predetermined standards.

Forward-Looking Function

An attribute shared by planning and controlling that focuses on anticipating conditions and initiating corrective action to guide future performance.

Performance Standards

The criteria or benchmarks established in the first step of the controlling process against which actual performance is measured.

Measurement of Actual Performance

The second step of the controlling process where work done is evaluated objectively through methods like personal observation, sample checking, and performance reports.

Sample Checking

A performance measurement technique in large organizations where items or outputs are inspected at random to verify adherence to quality specifications.

Comparing Actual Performance with Standards

The third step of the controlling process that identifies the extent and nature of deviations between actual results and predetermined benchmarks.

Key Result Areas (KRAs)

Critical operational points whose success is essential to the entire organization, serving as the focal point for Critical Point Control.

Critical Point Control

A managerial control method focusing monitoring efforts primarily on Key Result Areas (KRAs) rather than checking every single operational activity.

Management by Exception

A control principle holding that an attempt to control everything results in controlling nothing, requiring that only significant deviations exceeding permissible limits be reported to management.

Taking Corrective Action

The final step in the controlling process where managers initiate actions, such as retraining workers, adjusting resources, or revising standards, to rectify critical deviations.