Application of The Four Steps of Formal Control Systems revised

Application of the Four Steps of Formal Control Systems
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Application of the Four Steps of Formal Control Systems
The objective of this section of the employee’s handbook is to educate employees on the importance of their obligation to submit accurate time-sheets and on the right procedure of seeking approval for leave. This goal is predicated upon the fact that timesheet fraud is one of the leading causes of poor performance in organizations.
A formal control system consists of four stages (Anastasia, 2018). The first and vital step is the setting of standards which ensure that the organization has effectively communicated the requirements to the employees. The criteria for this issue are outlined in this section. All employees are required to be in the organization during office hours. Unless otherwise stated, every employee shall record the time they reported and the time they leave the office. The only instance under which one can get exempted from these standards is if they have requested for leave from the organization and it has been approved. Such refers to annual, parental, unpaid, sick and terminal leave. All leave forms should be signed off on by the head of the respective department and subsequently by the human resource department and the director of the section.
The Human Resource office will conduct weekly random checks in the office to ensure that every employee is at their required station and consequently, measure these standards.

These checks will be accompanied by a roll-call, in which everyone will be required to sign. The roll-call will be evaluated against the approved leaves to determine whoever is officially away from the office and whoever is not. This roll-call will also be referred to when evaluating time-sheets during the development of payroll to confirm their veracity. After the collection of the data, the human resource department will compare the results of the previous step with the standards set in an employment contract in that the attendance shall be calculated as well as a total percentage of the requisite billable hours. In other words, this phase involves a combination of real performance with the set standards (Kalpana, 2014). Depending on the results of this step, management mandates to institute actions under the final phase of this process.
This stage is the essential step of the process as it implements the recommendations of the findings of the previous three phases. It allows a combination of different controls to make organizations operate effectively (Chenhall & Moers, 2016). If the progress is positive, then this step is rendered mute. However, if the results are negative, corrective action is taken. In this case, employees who are discovered to abscond from duty will receive warning letters which will be placed in their files. If the situation persists, a second warning letter will be given after which punitive measures such as summary dismissal and surcharging of one’s payment will be initiated. Employees who do not follow the correct procedures while seeking leave will not be entitled to the leave requested until they can subject themselves wholly to the process.

References
Anastasia. (2018, January 25). Management Control System? Definition, Characteristics and More. Retrieved from https://www.cleverism.com/management-control-system-guide/
Chenhall, R., & Moers, F. (2016, May 8). Management control systems have evolved to address the need for innovation. Retrieved from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2016/05/09/management-control-systems-have-evolved-to-address-the-need-for-innovation/
Kalpana, R. (2014, February 6). Controlling Process in Business Management (5 Steps). Retrieved from http://www.businessmanagementideas.com/management/controlling-process-in-business-management-5-steps/2403