Subject: General Principles of Management (GEN 102)

Student: Japhet Jezer L. Banzon

Submission Date: December 7, 2019
Instructor: Sir Mario Andrew P. Ustaris
Topic and Case Study: Managerial Control

CEVAS IELTS Language School and Review Center – Managerial Control Case Study

“Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.” – NORDSTROM’S EMPLOYEE
MANUAL

CEVAS is a review center and a language school that provides different kinds of review like the civil
service exam review, licensure exam test review, IELTS, and foreign language courses. It also promotes
advance learning and quality education for students who want to improve their knowledge and
capabilities. Its services have been recognized by different schools, institutions, and companies, both
local and abroad, to provide exemplary result.

As an employee, even though I am not working as an admin staff or part of the management, I have
encountered a lot of simple to big problems/ issues while I am working with them. The first thing I have
noticed as a problem is the Communication Problems of the company.

I have encountered (as a part-time employee) a lot of miscommunication when it comes to information
dissemination – if there is a work memo, or about any updated company policy, most of the time they
are lacking of proper coordination (the management) to us teachers and other staff (they don’t give
written notice or updated company policy ahead of time).They even give us lots of written warnings
instead of the first stage, it should be a verbal warning before a written warning - then we have to fill
out the form then give specific details and reasons for a very small mistake that we did. I also
experienced that I have to complain about the wrong salary I have received to the accounting
department, the computation of our working hours was not computed properly, then they did nothing
about my complains.

Another communication problem this time around about my coordinator at the corporate department, I
interviewed her about the Communication Problems they had encountered inside their department, she
said that most of the internal problems of the management is really about communication. They are
lacking of coordination skills, when there is a problem instead of investigating the cause they usually
come up to conclusion and blame the person without asking the side of their story first.

Communication problems:  Problems in communication can affect the

functioning for a control system, since it is dependent on information for its
operation. This information must be transmitted through a variety of
communication channels ranging from face-to-face verbal communication to
formal, written letters. Semantic and transmission barriers can distort the
information being communicated.

Another problem when it comes to management is about Erroneous Standards.

Based on my research, our company is lacking of standards – like about the
performance standards. They don’t have specific guidelines to follow about this
matter. According to one of the administrative staff – the time for approvals
about a certain project takes time (a long time) which hinders performance/sales
– for example about the price quotation for the corporate account takes time
when the owner/CEO doesn’t approve/sign something about the agreement of
price for the tutorial, the client company keeps waiting leading to change of
mind of the client/ or the delay of class when it’s needed as soon as possible. It
doesn’t only give trouble to the customer but also to the teacher waiting for the
project.

Erroneous standards:  Perhaps the most critical problem in a control system is

that of some inadvertent mistakes committed in setting standards for
comparison. Where mistakes in standards exist, it is obviously more difficult to
discriminate between proper and improper output of the activity. The decision
maker is not certain whether the deviation message being received is the result
of the activity being out of control or the standards being improperly set.

As I have learned about the different problems the company faces, the company should re-evaluate
their company policies and other company standards like performance standards and update and
resolve the most common miscommunication that is happening in the work place.

As part of the company, If I’ll be given a chance to give a solution/ proposal, I would recommend (the
manager) to have a one on one communication with each employee or open up a meeting about the
company rules and standards for it could help a lot to improve the services not only for the customers
and clients but also to the employees working with them.