AS OUR modest proposal on the needed management of disasters and similar challenging cases, our analysis on the problems of managing critical cases is exemplified in the recent super "Typhoon Odette" disaster, the strongest storm that hit our country on December 16, 2021. Our basic and simplified view is that the matter of disaster cases could be understood and appropriately addressed, among other relevant ways, by the basic elements of management as summarized in the four general stages of planning, organizing, leading and control.
Our column today therefore briefly discusses the fourth and the last stage of management control or, as sometimes described also, as monitoring and evaluation.
In its simplest meaning, we know that management control is the process which measures an activity being implemented and serves as a guide for that activity or activities to be completed based on planned objectives or goals. Thus, management control helps ensure successful implementation by constant checking or monitoring and evaluation of the ongoing programs or activities in relation to desired results and consistent with organizational plans. This essential element in disaster management is similar to that used in general management.
The only variations are mainly in the details or differences among the activities or projects being undertaken. The most essential aspects of management control are therefore the same for disaster management or any other type of management cases. The questions most specifically relevant here are predetermined goals, quantitative or qualitative measurement of accomplishments, constant comparison of accomplishments with plans, and methods of revising ongoing activities to ensure that they are corrected to achieve desired results.
This column wishes to emphasize that all the management aspects being discussed here are actually standard literature in most basic management publications or, as some would simplify, in Management 101. Hence, the information being discussed in our series are widely known management basic information which are being recommended for the guidance of various organizations, whether public or private and regardless of location.
These principles can also of course be adopted or applied with the unique creativity of different management organizations. Our main purpose in presenting these four essential elements of management is to offer a universally accepted framework for management analysis or, depending on circumstances, as a simplified "quick action" format for time bound or emergency situations such as natural or manmade disasters, among others.
As another major concern of this column oriented on historical aspects, it is our hope that this or other applicable frameworks of management can somehow be useful tools to enable those involved in management to learn the lessons from past cases or learning from the lessons of history to improve management in the future. In our coming columns, we will continue our ongoing series on using past experiences to anticipate our expectations for the coming year and beyond.