Management control or control management?

Abstract

The attempt to answer the title of this article frames the analysis of the concept of control as a key role of the management, which any entity applies in pursuit of its institutional fulfillment. The control intervention in the development of the activities carried out by organizations to achieve the planned objectives of economic, social or political order constitutes its core business, as it seeks to ensure that those activities—operations and processes—are conducted safely, continuous and reliable. This applies both to those who constitute the organization and those who have expectations of management efficiency and the effectiveness of the expected results. In this paper, on the one hand, we propose to revise the control concept and its application in the exercise of monitoring the management performance; on the other hand, we seek to show how control should be managed to achieve efficient and effective results.