Controlling

The methods used to make sure things are happening the way management wants them to. Controlling includes how employees are monitored…“I always feel like management is watching me, and I got no privacy.” It also includes how issues are corrected if employees are deviating from the plan.

For example:

Alpha Bravo, LLC has an employee named Larry. Larry is a decent guy, but they need him to finish verifying the inventory in the warehouse by the end of the week. It’s Wednesday, and he’s not even 25% through, so his manager looks at the cameras and sees that Larry takes a 15-minute smoke break every 15 minutes. He’s a chain smoker. He lights his next cigarette up with what’s left of the previous one. And he smokes strong ones to boot. Regardless, the manager tells Larry that he gets one smoke break per hour, and that he’ll have to puff away what he needs during that time. Now Larry has a lot more time and is able to finish going through the inventory in the warehouse. Unfortunately, he now has less time to contemplate his poor life decisions, like taking up smoking.