Planning and control: why each needs the other

Meaning of the statement

Planning decides in advance what is to be done and how. Control makes sure that actual activities conform to the planned ones. The statement says the two cannot work apart: a plan with no check on its execution has no practical value, and a check with no plan behind it has nothing to check against. The two are often described as inseparable twins of management.

Why planning is meaningless without control

1. Deviations go unnoticed. Once a plan is in operation, control monitors progress, discovers deviations and starts corrective measures so that events conform to the plan; without it, even the best plans may go astray.
2. Nobody answers for failures. An adequate control system shows where failures occur and who is responsible, and ensures that some corrective action follows.
3. The next plan learns nothing. Control finds the causes of deviations, and that knowledge is used in drawing up future plans.

Why control is aimless without planning

1. No standard to measure against. A control system presupposes standards of performance, and those standards are provided by planning.
2. Nothing to correct towards. If standards are not set in advance, managers have nothing to control; planning is a prerequisite of control.
3. Deviations cannot be judged. Deviations are found only by comparing actual performance with the goals set in the plan; without goals there is no way to tell whether a result is good or bad.

Planning and control as one cycle

Planning is often said to look ahead and control to look back, but that is only partly true: planning draws on past experience, and control's corrective action aims to improve future performance, so each looks both ways. Control completes one cycle of the management process and improves planning in the next: plan, act, measure, correct and plan again. Planning based on facts makes control easier, and control improves future planning.

An example

A Pune two-wheeler plant plans to produce 12,000 units a month at a set cost per unit. Its control system tracks daily output, rejects and cost. When a supplier delay cuts output in the second week, the gap shows up at once and the plant adds a shift. Without the monthly plan there would be no figure to compare against; without the daily tracking the plan would have been missed unnoticed.

Conclusion

Planning gives control its standards, and control makes planning effective. Each is incomplete without the other, which is why the statement holds.