Control mechanisms and environment

The purpose of control is to determine whether the plan has been achieved in the organization. Planning and control systems act primarily through the mechanism of coordinating the standardization of results. Organizational planning and control mechanisms should be seen as a necessary complement to the structural design of the organization.

The object of the plan is to specify a desired output, a level of demand at some future point in time. The object of control is to determine whether the plan has been achieved. Thus, planning and control are closely linked; there can be no control without prior planning, and plans lose their capabilities without control of their fulfillment.