Reaction Paper – 6

The word control is an important word in the corporate system. Control can be of different

types, and there are four types of control levers that we discussed in the last session. Four

control levers are Belief system, Boundary system, Diagnostic control system, and interactive

control system.

Belief system is essential in the smooth working of any organization. These are the beliefs

that keep you going and always motivate you to do well. In my opinion, if you believe in

something, you tend to do that work diligently and efficiently. Beliefs are very important in

the formation of the core values of any company. It provides a way for the managers to form

a Vision and Mission for the company.

The second control lever is the Boundary system; in this system one has to operate or work

within specified rules and regulations. In this system, managers don’t tell employees things

that don’t need to be done instead of telling them things that need to be done. In this way,

managers give them an opportunity to work creatively by being into certain limits. Boundary

control system provides the required control over the employees, and at the same time, it

gives the liberty to the employees to work creatively.

The third control lever is the Diagnostic control system; this control system helps in building

a clear target for the employees of any organization. In my opinion, a clear target is the first

step to achieve your goal. When you know your target then it’s become relatively easy to

accomplish because you can formulate your strategy according to your target.

The fourth control lever is an Interactive control system; this control system focuses on

dialogue more than anything else to get the work done. Like in a small organization,

employee can have direct interaction with the mangers and discuss their problems as well. In
small organizations, employees can have a discussion with the manager on a round table and

discuss the emerging threats and opportunities. But as the organization grows, these

interactions become lesser and lesser, and for the continuous growth of an organization, these

interactions are very important. We discussed all these control levers because in my opinion,

some kind of control is also very important. As we know, the impact of empowerment and

how it can do wonders for the organization by innovations and creativity, but at the same

time, some balance is also required between control and empowerment.

Change is a continuous process in any successful organization, and the organizations which

are reluctant to change fade away very quickly. We have some examples of companies fading

way very quickly because they didn’t change according to the environment like NOKIA and

KODAK. These two companies are the classic example of the companies which are reluctant

to change.

There are errors that hinder any organization from changing; first one is if company doesn’t

feel any sense of urgency like NOKIA was very comfortable with its keypad mobiles, and

they didn’t switch to android mobile and when they did their competitors were way ahead of

them. Lack of vision also stops the change in society because vision is very important is

formulating any change in the existing environment. The other thing which affect the change

in any organisation is planning; when we start focusing on small term wins and start

neglecting our long term vision then we start neglecting required changes in the organization

as well.