Coordination and Controlling
Core
Coordination is synchronising activities and efforts. It is called the essence of management because it runs through planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Types include internal and external, vertical and horizontal, planned and forced. It reduces duplication, improves harmony and supports unity of action.
Controlling ensures performance conforms to standards. Steps: set standards, measure actual performance, compare actual with standard, analyse deviations and take corrective action. Types are feed-forward (before), concurrent (during) and feedback (after). Techniques include budgets, break-even analysis, ratio analysis, PERT/CPM, management information systems and audits. Control is closely linked to planning: planning sets standards; control checks them.
Worked example
Standard output is 1,000 units per day; actual output is 900 units. Deviation = 900 − 1,000 = −100 units, or −10%. If the tolerance limit is 5%, the deviation is significant and needs investigation. The manager finds a machine breakdown and orders preventive maintenance, then revises the maintenance schedule. Reasoning: the control process does not stop at finding a variance; it identifies the cause and corrects it. A favourable variance also needs review, because it may signal a wrong standard.
Traps
Coordination is not a separate department or a one-time activity. Control is not only punishment; it is corrective and forward-looking. Do not skip the comparison step. Do not confuse feed-forward control with feedback control. A variance within tolerance may still need monitoring, but not necessarily action.