Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

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Part 5: Controlling

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control system should be flexible enough to handle the revised requirements. The

expense associated with the alternative—designing and implementing a new control

system—would then be avoided. Champion’s control system, for example, included a mech-

anism that automatically shipped products to major customers to keep the inventories

of those customers at predetermined levels. The firm had to adjust this system when one of

its biggest customers decided not to stock the full line of Champion products. Because its

control system was flexible, though, modifying it for the customer was relatively simple.

Accuracy

Managers make a surprisingly large number of decisions based on inaccurate

information. Field representatives may hedge their sales estimates to make themselves look

better. Production managers may hide costs to meet their targets. Human resource man-

agers may overestimate their minority recruiting prospects to meet affirmative action goals.

In each case, the information that other managers receive is inaccurate, and the results of