Management Control Systems Adaptation Challenges

Introduction

Organizations often encounter situations that require them to make pertinent choices on matters about management. This objective is achieved by reviewing the existing structures to gather adequate information about their appropriateness. Feedback is an imperative undertaking that raises the need for making decisions. Therefore, the success or failure of a decision depends on the feedback. This situation demands the organization to initiate a feedback control system. The response to the implemented decisions provides leads to the establishment of new arrangements for the unending cycle of organizational activities. Concurrent control of the learning institution ensures that the decisions are implemented appropriately to meet the set educational standards. The feedback aims at maintaining a healthy image of the organization in context whilst targeting the output. However, various strengths and flaws are realized in the feedback control systems. Such aspects create a need for the school management to formulate alternative means to ensure that the human, financial, and/or material resources are aligned with both teaching and learning goals. This strategy alleviates the flaws whilst reinforcing the strengths of the feedback schemes. This essay provides an analysis of the challenges encountered in the adaptation of management control systems.

Strengths and Flaws of Feedback Control Systems

The feedback control system has various strengths and weaknesses. The strengths justify the application of the methods in countering problems facing the management of organizations. In an attempt to ensure improved productivity out of the inputs, it is vital to have various checks and balances. The department of education in the United States of America has intensified such control measures. The supervisors who come from outside the school district subject the teachers to rigorous observation. The chief shortcoming of this process is the inability to predict and provide channels for compensating the unwarranted assessment. Given the improper assessment, the teachers are not guaranteed any job security since they have no occupational tenures. The system should have a method of incorporating the parties involved. The teachers, students, and evaluators should be subjected to the checkpoint to avoid unfairness.

Importance of 1-5 grading system to Feedback Control System

A 1-5 grading system is an important part of the feedback control system. It helps principals and master teachers assess the progress of the learning processes and provide quality information needed for decision-making. The system is treasured in the feedback control system. However, teachers have variously criticized its mode of operation. No principal wants the state to provide inadequate primary education resources for the pupils. Senge (2014) reveals that the principals tend to manipulate the system to suit their interests.

Teacher Evaluation

Teachers accuse the principals of letting the students pass in a grade-inflated mode branded the “easy pass”. The teachers get the blunt edge while the students’ graduation list depicts a soaring rate. Edwards and DeMatthews (2014) further reveal that the administration rigs the evaluation. In a report on state education, out of 101 teachers, sixteen got an “ineffective” rating besides having an overall of a fifty-percent fail. Besides, there are significant teacher evaluation differences between the school and district levels. This state of affairs shows that the principals were deceived in the assessment exercise. Beuren and Teixeira (2014) reveal that the use of the feedback control systems to administer rewards and settle old scores can be inferred. Such subjectivity is forcing teachers to leave their jobs or seek early retirement. Those whom the state finds incompetent owing to the frequent controls are interdicted or demoted. This situation is unfair, especially in a system that is supposed to guide the welfare of the public. The state should adopt modern technology in the performance evaluation to avoid the biases associated with the observation (Riaz & Khalili, 2014; Beuren & Teixeira, 2014).

Approach to Management

According to Senge (2104), school-based management decentralized the education sector to improve the teaching and learning activities in the schools. The aim was to give the teachers, administrators, and parents control over what takes place in the school. In this approach, the decisions within the organization originate from the lower ranks. Senge (2014) provided an overview of the decentralized approach by citing some advantages that accrued from the intervention. The closeness between the decision-maker and implementers bridged the communication gap; hence, saving considerable time and resources. Such time has unmatched value to the stakeholders involved in the education setting. In cases where the decisions fail to provide the anticipated solutions, there is time to execute an alternative assessment plan without incurring losses (Daft, 2015).

As identified in the Five Stars case, the teachers had no control over the issues that affected their roles in the school (Daft, 2015). This situation was contrary to the initiatives executed by the school department. Such systems suppress the teachers by subjecting them to personal observations and evaluations. The principal rather than the policy initiators determine the decisions on the grade of the teacher. Edwards and DeMatthews (2014) posit that decentralized management is the most operative if a consensus on the performance evaluation and measurement is reached. In the case in question, the teachers are against it; hence, there is no unanimity.

Beuren and Teixeira (2014) posit that an issue of inadequate resources is also common. The schools from the three districts are represented by the three cousins. Furthermore, the principals inflate the students’ results to attract the attention of the policy-makers in terms of rewards. The instances of resource deficiencies should not have let the state fund the failing schools. This motive is usually to the disadvantage of the teachers as well as students. The state also stands to lose the support of the unrealistic performance (Beuren & Teixeira, 2014).

The Success of Feedback Control Systems in the USA

The feedback mechanism is successful in the United States of America due to the greater technological advancement in the country (Edwards & DeMatthews, 2014). It is possible to compare and borrow a leaf from the other districts using the same mechanisms. Technology has intensified the sharing of information among various sectors. This situation has led to smooth and fast decision-making processes (Edwards & DeMatthews, 2014).

Problems facing initializing Feedback Control Systems

Society encounters many challenges that hinder the initiation of feedback control systems in some sectors. First, there are resource constraints. Society strives to get the sponsorship at all costs including cheating in the evaluation process. Checks and balances are altered to give undue advantage to some sectors. From the Five Stars case, it is noted that the parents flock to the best-performing schools that have the resources rather than strive to bring up the lowly ones (Daft, 2015). Secondly, the political unwillingness supersedes the need. People at the helm of change alter the flow of information and silently become dictators who are usually cold-hearted. They manipulate the flow of resources to favor certain sections of the states.

Steps to Future Success

Apt leadership and accountability are paramount to the achievement of the school goals. Failing students should get their dues without entertaining doctored results. The principal’s evaluations and assessments should rhyme with those from the external reviewers. Gauch (2011) affirms that teachers should be given incentives to advance their commitments to the teaching profession. Performance contracting with a regulated assessment will be favorable. In cases where the rules are outrun, action should never be an option. The control attached to technology ensures the objectives are met besides allocating the resources equitably (Beuren & Teixeira, 2014).

Conclusion

In deduction, the need to remain at the top has been the desire of almost everybody in society. However, the extent of success varies from one community to another. This desire has pushed individuals to propagate unethical traits. Principals are seeking prominence, power, and resources to go the extra mile to subject teachers to performance contracting. Even with the extreme dedication, some teachers fail them because of the inhumane characters in some of them. Attempts to divert resources and fame have eaten into the social fabric that should remain web-thatched. To achieve a turnaround, ethics should be heightened in schools. In addition, advances in technology can go a long way in helping achieve fairness in the performance evaluation of both the teachers and students. This approach to management will eliminate the instances of overcontrolling or micromanaging the institutions.

Reference

Beuren, I., & Teixeira, S. (2014). Evaluation of management control systems in a higher education institution with the performance management and control. Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management, 11(1), 169-192.

Daft, R. (2015). Management. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.

Edwards, D. & DeMatthews, D. (2014). Historical Trends in Educational Decentralization in the United States and Developing Countries: A Periodization and Comparison in the Post-WWII Context. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(40), 1-36.

Gauch, P. (2011). Site-based management principal perceptions and behaviors after 19 years of implementation. Web.

Riaz, M., & Khalili, M. (2014). Transformational, Transactional Leadership and Rational Decision Making in Services Providing Organizations: Moderating Role of Knowledge Management Processes. Pakistan Journal of Commerce & Social Sciences, 8(2), 355-364.

Senge, P. (2014). The dance of change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in a learning organization. New York, NY: Crown Business.