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CONTROLLING

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Controlling

¡ Controlling refers to activities carried out by an engineering manager to

assess and regulate work in progress, evaluate results for the purpose of
securing and maintaining maximum productivity, and reduce and
prevent unacceptable performance (Reichmann 2011).

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Organizing –
to create structures

• Divide up the work

• Arrange resources
• Coordinate activities Controlling –
Planning –

to set the direction to ensure results

Leading –

to inspire effort

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Types of Control

¡ Feedforward Controls - Ensure the right directions are set and the right
resource inputs are available
- Solve problems before they occur
¡ Concurrent Controls - Ensure the right things are being done as part of
workflow operations
- Solve problems while they are occurring
¡ Feedback Controls - Ensure that final results are up to desired standards
- Solve problems after they occur

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Controlling

¡ Engineering managers exercise control by carrying out the specific tasks

of setting standards, measuring performance, evaluating performance,
and correcting performance.

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Step 1: Setting Performance Standards

¡ Setting performance standards

Ø defines the expected outcome explicitly
Ø provides specific guidelines for exercising authority and making decisions
Ø typically established in the form of how many (number of units), how good
(quality, acceptance), how well (user acceptance), and how soon (timing), as
imposed by the company management, the customers, or the marketplace

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Step 1: Setting Performance Standards

¡ Effective standards are characterized as being company sponsored,

measurable, comparable, reasonable, and indicative of the expected
work performance on an objective basis in order to promote employee
growth, while considering workers’ human factor inputs and securing
their understanding and acceptance.

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Step 1: Setting Performance Standards

¡ Benchmarking is a method of defining performance standards in relation

to a set of internal and external references (Bogan and English 2014;
Bogetoft 2013)

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Step 1: Setting Performance Standards

Benchmarking

Internal External

• uses references internal to a company to • uses references external to the

set performance standards company to set performance standards

Example: Financial ratios

Performance metrics
2014 - productivity is $150,000 per employee
2015 - $165,000 per employee (10% higher Best practices
than the previous year) Target pricing

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Step 1: Setting Performance Standards

¡ Limitations of Benchmarking
Ø some reference data may not be available, and in such cases, estimates must be
made
Ø based on past performance, can hardly predict the future, can hardly be used to
predict new competition
“Studying the past may lead to a better understanding of the future”
(Confucius)

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Step 2: Measuring Performance

¡ Performance measurement - recording and reporting of work done and

the outcome attained
¡ Steps to measure performance:
Ø collect, store, analyze, and report information systematically
Ø compare the performance with established standards
Ø issue reports such as data summary, collection of results, and forecasts to
document findings

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Step 3: Evaluating Performance

Control Equation: Need for Action = Desired Performance - Actual Performance

¡ Evaluating performance - appraising work in progress, assess the completed job, and
provide feedback
¡ Steps to evaluate employee performance:
Ø establish limits of tolerance, note variations (deviation within the tolerance limits)
and exceptions (deviation outside of the tolerance limits)
Ø provide recognition for good performance, and give timely, proper credit, if
justifiable
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as
well” (Voltaire)
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Step 4: Correcting Performance

¡ Correcting performance - rectifying and improving the work done and the
results obtained
¡ Employees’ mistakes should be corrected by focusing on future progress and
growth.
¡ When correcting performance, a manager should offer negative feedback
without attacking the employee’s self-esteem. Feedback must be focused on
results and outcome—not the person—and directed toward the future,
without upsetting employees or harboring punitive motives. Managers should
demonstrate a helpful and sincere attitude and pose no threat to their
workers (Harvard Business Review 2014).

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