Indirect Control

At the base of control is the fact that the outcome of plans is dependent on the people who carry them out. A factory that produces low quality products for example cannot be controlled by throwing away the products and a firm with consumer complaints cannot be controlled by ignoring the complaints. Responsibility for controllable deviations lies with whoever has made the unfortunate decisions.

Any hope of abolishing unsatisfactory results lies in changing the future actions of the person responsible, may be through additional training, modification of procedures or through a new policy. Two methods could be used to ensure that the people responsible modify future action.

(a)    You can trace the cause of the deviation back to the persons responsible for it and get them to take corrective action. (Direct Control).

(b)    Develop better managers who will skilfully apply concepts, techniques and principles and who can look at managerial problems from a systems point of view. (Indirect Control).