Implementing Control and Its Benefits

Schools sit awkwardly in the world of control. They are service organisations with intangible outputs, often non-profit in spirit if not in legal form. The standard control tools were developed for manufacturing, where products are physical and quality is countable. Adapting control to schools requires acknowledging the difficulty and adjusting the approach.

Why control is hard in service organisations

The handout names the difficulty directly:

In service organisations, control systems are more difficult to implement and maintain. Outputs are more difficult to measure. Quality ratings are less clear. Important to properly train and motivate the employees.

A factory makes cars. The output is countable: number of cars, defect rates, time per car. Quality has measurable definitions. Control is straightforward in principle.

A school produces learning, character development, and life preparation. The outputs are not as countable. A child who learns to think critically is a different kind of “output” from a car coming off the line.

Three specific challenges in school control:

Outputs are hard to measure

Test scores are one measurable output, but they capture a small part of what schools produce. A child’s growth in confidence, curiosity, and judgement is real but hard to quantify.

A school that controls only on test scores misses much of what it is supposed to produce. A school that admits the difficulty and uses multiple measures (test scores, project work, behaviour, alumni outcomes, parent satisfaction) gets closer to a real picture.

Quality ratings are less clear

What is a “good” teacher? Multiple opinions, multiple frameworks, no single answer. A school head trying to control teaching quality faces this ambiguity daily.

The mitigation is to make quality definitions explicit, even if imperfect. A school that defines what good teaching looks like, however roughly, can move staff toward that definition. A school with no shared definition cannot.

Staff must be trained and motivated

In manufacturing, control can rely partly on the equipment. The machine produces consistent output. In schools, control depends entirely on the people. A poorly trained teacher cannot be controlled into good teaching; she must be developed.

The implication: in schools, control and development are linked. Control reveals what needs developing; development changes what is being controlled. The two cannot be separated.

Why control is harder still in non-profit and government

The handout names additional challenges for non-profit and government organisations, which apply to many schools (especially government schools and trust schools).

Goals and objectives are less clear

A business has a clear goal: profit. A school has many: academic outcomes, character development, social mobility, community service, financial sustainability, regulatory compliance. Conflicts among these are common.

A school head should explicitly name the priority among competing goals when conflicts arise. Without explicit prioritisation, decisions become arbitrary and control becomes inconsistent.

Professionals are less receptive to control

Teachers, like doctors and lawyers, see themselves as professionals. They resist control systems that feel like factory inspection.

Professionals less receptive to control systems.

The fix is not to abandon control. It is to frame control as support rather than inspection. A lesson observation can be a quality check or a coaching conversation. The same activity, framed differently, gets very different reception.

Lack of profit measure

Profit is a simple aggregate measure. Without it, organisations have to track many indicators. School heads dealing with multiple measures have a harder job than business managers tracking a single bottom line.

Less pressure to improve from owners

A business that does not improve loses money and loses its owners’ patience. A school, especially a government school, may not face the same pressure. The board may be content with adequate performance. The lack of pressure can lead to drift.

A school head who is internally driven to improve does not need external pressure. A school head who needs external pressure to act will be slow.

Budgeting as bargaining

Budgeting is more of a bargaining game to acquire additional funding and less of a planning tool.

In non-profits, the budget process often becomes politics rather than planning. Each department fights for its share. The connection to actual results is weak.

The fix is to insist on linking budget to outcomes. Each budget line should connect to a planned outcome. Without the link, budgeting becomes a power game.

Different motivations

Staff in schools are often motivated by mission rather than money. This is a strength: mission-driven staff produce work that money cannot buy. It is also a complication for control: standard incentives may not move them, and standard penalties may push them away.

A school head should design her control system with mission in mind. Recognition of mission-aligned work matters more than financial reward for many teachers.

The six benefits

Despite the difficulties, control is essential. The handout names six specific benefits.

1. Controls make plans effective

Managers need to measure progress, offer feedback and direct their teams to succeed.

A plan without control is wishful. The control system is what makes the plan real over time.

2. Controls ensure steady organisational activities

Policies and procedures help ensure that efforts are integrated.

Control keeps the work coordinated. Without it, the parts of the school drift apart.

3. Control makes organisations effective

Organisations need controls in place if they want to achieve their objectives.

Without control, the school may be busy without being effective. The activities happen; the outcomes do not.

4. Controls make organisations efficient

Efficiency depends more on controls than any other management function.

Control eliminates waste. The school doing the right work in the right amount uses its resources well.

5. Controls provide feedback on project status

Feedback influences behaviour and is an essential ingredient in the control process.

Control gives people information. Staff who know how they are doing adjust their work; staff who do not know cannot.

6. Controls aid in decision making

The ultimate purpose of the controls is to help managers make better decisions.

Decisions made without information are guesses. Control provides the information that turns guesses into informed choices.

A practical control system for a school

Bringing it together, a working school control system has:

1. Clear standards for the small number of things that really matter (academic outcomes, teaching quality, financial health, parent engagement, ethical climate).
2. Multiple measures for each standard, since no single measure captures the whole picture.
3. Feed-forward checks before terms and major initiatives.
4. Concurrent monitoring during the work: lesson observations, mid-term assessments, regular parent feedback.
5. Feedback review at term and year ends.
6. Corrective action with three options: continue, correct, or revise the standard.
7. Linking to development. Control reveals gaps; development fills them.

A school head who has built such a system runs a learning school. A school head without one runs a school that hopes for the best.

Flashcard

What makes control harder in schools than in factories, and what are the main benefits that make the effort worthwhile?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Schools are service organisations with intangible outputs, often non-profit. The benefits make the effort worthwhile.

Why control is harder in schools:

1. Outputs (learning, character) are hard to measure.
2. Quality definitions are contested.
3. Control depends entirely on people, not equipment.
4. Multiple competing goals.
5. Professional staff resist inspection-style control.
6. Mission-driven motivation differs from standard incentives.

Six benefits that make control worthwhile:

1. Makes plans effective.
2. Ensures steady activities.
3. Makes the school effective.
4. Makes the school efficient.
5. Provides feedback that improves behaviour.
6. Aids decision making.

A school head who frames control as support and coaching, links it to mission, and uses multiple measures can run effective control without alienating professional staff.