Page
Monitoring
Completion requirements
View
Managers must monitor the activities of their team and the external forces. Without that monitoring, you won't know whether your plan is working or if it needs to be adjusted. Then, managers must control those elements that they can control to keep everyone moving toward the goal.
In the control task, you monitor the work being done, you compare the actual progress of the plan and you verify that the organisation is working. If everything is going well, you won't need to do anything but monitor. However, that seldom happens. Someone gets sick; the iteration of each database sort takes longer than projected; a key competitor drops their prices; a fire destroys the building next door and you must evacuate for several days; or, some other factor impacts your plan.
The control step dictates that you must act to minimize the impact and bring things back to the desired goal as quickly as possible.
That means going back to the planning stage and adjusting plans. Then, control the new plan and adjust if needed. This cycle continues until you complete the task.