Title of the Article:
If you do not evaluate and control what is happening in
the
organization, you cannot be sure of what happens in the organization
and whether there will be success!
Evaluating and controlling are very important management functions. The effectiveness and success of any management depends largely on their ability to evaluate and control. Since the term control includes evaluation, in the remainder of this article only the term control will be used rather than repeating both the terms over and over again, unless something is specifically discussed on evaluation.
The control function includes three steps according to most authors.
1. Setting up some performance standards or goals.
2. Evaluating the actual performance.
3. Taking some action if there is a problem.
This control principle has universal application in all situations, in all types of organizations, in all functional areas and in all cultures. Just to give a wide range of examples, you will have to use these three steps to control anything, including your weight, room temperature, amount of money you spend on clothing, moral life, the speed of the automobile, total sales of a company, cost of production, quality of products, attendance in church programs, etc.
In a church several things have to be controlled. If we do not control things, they will get out of control. If we do not exercise adequate control in all key areas, we cannot be sure of attaining our goals. A wide range of factors should be controlled in a church. The factors that should be evaluated and controlled must be stated in measurable and quantitative terms, as illustrated in Table 7.1 In this chapter several evaluation forms and rating scales are included.
TABLE 7.1
FACTORS THAT SHOULD BE CONTROLLED
Attendance in worship services.
Participation in the programs of the church.
Number of seats in the audience.
Space for all activities and programs.
Parking space.
Income of the church.
Expenses of the church.
Cost of each program.
Required voluntary help.
Quality of the programs.
Meeting deadlines.
Completion of programs within the prescribed time.
Violation of rules.
Time use.
Program relevance to the mission of the church.
Goal attainment.
Effectiveness of organization.
Cost of energy and maintenance.
Administrative cost.
Waste of supplies and energy.
Inventory of hymn books, Bibles, choir robes, and other church property.
Turnover of pastors, church officers, choir members, committee members.
Number and performance of Sunday school teachers, ushers, etc.
Attendance in board meetings, church programs, church services, etc.
Quality of music.
Quality of service provided.
In order to evaluate and control various factors effectively, we should follow a set of good principles on controlling which have been developed over a period of time, put to test and have been found effective. After studying these principles, check and see whether these principles are followed in your church when it comes to evaluation and control. These principles of evaluation and control are listed in Table 7.2
TABLE 7.2
PRINCIPLES OF EVALUATION AND CONTROL
1. A set of criteria should be developed for purposes of evaluation.
2. Selected criteria should be adequate to cover and represent all areas of responsibility.
3. Each criterion selected should be measurable and verifiable.
4. Each criterion should be objective and not subjective.
5. Each criterion should be prescriptive and operational.
6. Each criterion should be significant enough to be included.
7. Each criterion should be assigned a point value to represent its relative value.
8. Goals may be used as evaluation criteria if they meet the other requirements.
9. A specimen form of evaluation should be given to all persons concerned at the beginning of the period of evaluation.
10. All persons concerned should be involved in designing the form of evaluation.
11. Evaluation should be conducted at regular intervals of time.
12. Evaluation should serve more than one purpose including performance review, control, motivation, recognition of good performance, determining training needs and problem solving.
13. Control should be exercised in all key areas of performance.
14. Strategic control points should be established.
15. Frequency of measurement of performance should be determined.
16. Control methods or system used should meet the following requirements:
a) It should be acceptable to the organizational activities
b) It should be economically realistic
c) It should be coordinated with the regular organizational activities.
d) It should be accurate in measuring problems.
A situation should be a remedy on time, before it is too late!
