Premium Essay

How Could Leo's Four-Plex Theater Avoid Control Problems?

In:

Submitted By lariszala
Words 597
Pages 3
In some cases it can be better to avoid control problems instead of implementing a management control system (MCS). Kenneth A. Merchant & Wim A. Van der Stede [11] describes four strategies for control problem avoidance; Activity elimination, Automation, Centralization and Risk sharing. Under are examples given on how Leo, from the case Leo´s Four-Plex Theater [12], could apply these strategies for existing control problems in the organization.
Activity elimination means that a control problem caused of a certain activity within an organization is avoided by they stop doing the activity themselves and instead letting a third party taking over the risk and profit associated with it.
The persons working in the refreshment stand don´t register and collect cash for all sales, so it is not as profitable as it could be. If the cost for implementing a MCS to deal with the problem is too high Leo could lease the space. By arranging such a deal he will get a certain regularly payment from the contractor, eliminating the control problem associated with the activity, but he will loss the profit from the refreshment stand.

Automation is a way to avoid control problems by using technology like computers, machines and robots, instead of humans. By using automation it is possible to eliminate certain problems related to humans, like lack of motivation, inconsistency and dishonesties.
Leo could solve the problem with employees sometimes let people enter the screening room that have old, wrong kind or no ticket at all. This control problem could be avoided if having a machine instead, similar to those used in many arenas and in the subways today, that screen the ticket and just let in people with a valid ticket. This would probably be a major investment for a small town theater that takes a long while before it pays back. Leo has to take this into account, but also that

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Managenment

...Accounting, students explore the integrative and interdisciplinary role of management accounting and its contribution to the strategic management process and the provision of quantitative and non-quantitative information for planning, control, and decision making. Topics include management control systems; results controls, action, personnel and cultural controls; control system tightness; control system cost; designing and evaluating management control systems; financial responsibility centers including transfer pricing; planning, and budgeting; incentive systems; financial performance measures; the myopia problem; uncontrollable factors; corporate governance; and ethical issues. | Educational Objectives/Outcomes Upon completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Locate the role of Management Control Systems (MCS) in both strategy and operations. 2. Describe results control and its applications. 3. Distinguish indirect controls from the direct controls based on action and personnel/culture. 4. Determine whether an entity or an area is better suited to tight or loose controls, and the types of action and/or personnel/cultural controls that ensure the desired level of tightness. 5. Design and evaluate management controls in terms of methods applied and tightness, and the...

Words: 7415 - Pages: 30

Premium Essay

Project Management

...Management control systems rk assignment ME2028 Behavioral Management Control Andreas Torbiörnsson 09 How could each of the control problems at Leo´s Four-Plex Theater be solved with the use of Cultural control? Cultural control is a type of control that encourages mutual monitoring1 and it builds a lot upon group pressure. The main idea of cultural control is to get the employees to watch over each other and to create a culture that has certain things that you specifically do or don’t do. It aims to set up shared beliefs and norms in that company, rules of behaving that everyone abides by. The case of Leo’s Four-Plex Theater has a number of control problems that I can identify. They are as follows:   Discrepancies in the cash counts of the ticket booths. Most likely caused by a lack of motivation that leads to employee theft and neglecting of duties. The employees working in the refreshment stand sometimes do not collect cash from customers or doesn’t register the sale on the cash register. This is also most likely caused by a lack of motivation, it can’t be lack of direction since they know what they should do and neither could it be a personal limitation since they know how to operate the machine and how to collect payment. The problem seems to be that they don’t know why they should collect the cash. Test counts reveal that the number of tickets sold or put into the stub box isn’t equal to the amount of customers entering and leaving the theater. This seemed...

Words: 8320 - Pages: 34

Premium Essay

Homework Airtex

...Homework assignment ME2028 Behavioral Management Control Andreas Torbiörnsson 09 How could each of the control problems at Leo´s Four-Plex Theater be solved with the use of Cultural control? Cultural control is a type of control that encourages mutual monitoring1 and it builds a lot upon group pressure. The main idea of cultural control is to get the employees to watch over each other and to create a culture that has certain things that you specifically do or don’t do. It aims to set up shared beliefs and norms in that company, rules of behaving that everyone abides by. The case of Leo’s Four-Plex Theater has a number of control problems that I can identify. They are as follows:   Discrepancies in the cash counts of the ticket booths. Most likely caused by a lack of motivation that leads to employee theft and neglecting of duties. The employees working in the refreshment stand sometimes do not collect cash from customers or doesn’t register the sale on the cash register. This is also most likely caused by a lack of motivation, it can’t be lack of direction since they know what they should do and neither could it be a personal limitation since they know how to operate the machine and how to collect payment. The problem seems to be that they don’t know why they should collect the cash. Test counts reveal that the number of tickets sold or put into the stub box isn’t equal to the amount of customers entering and leaving the theater. This seemed to be caused by three factors:...

Words: 8201 - Pages: 33

Premium Essay

Human Resource

...Budgeting and Control MHRM 502-2 Supported Distance Program June 2015 Addis Ababa Table of Contents Title Page Unit One: Overview of Budgeting and Control .............................................................................. 2 1.1. The Basic Concepts of Budget and Budgeting ................................................................ 2 1.2. Definition of Budget ........................................................................................................ 3 1.3. Budgeting and Forecasting .............................................................................................. 4 1.4. Budgeting and Management ............................................................................................ 6 1.5. Budgeting and Planning ................................................................................................... 6 1.5.1 Purposes of Planning and Budgeting systems ................................................................. 7 1.5.2 Limitation of Budgeting................................................................................................. 10 1.5.3 Planning Cycles ............................................................................................................. 11 1.6. Budgeting process (Budget cycle) ................................................................................. 14 1.6.1 Designing the budget ...............................................................................

Words: 44956 - Pages: 180