Relevance and Examples of Behavior Controls

Week 6 Discussion Board Posting

What are some examples of behavior controls? Why are they important? How should they be used?

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that behavior controls, as Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, and Bamford (2018) point out, “specify how something is to be done through policies, rules, standard operating procedures, and orders from a superior” (319). Towards this end, behavior controls could be thought of as attempts to standardize the conduct of employees and clearly define the expected workplace practices. Some examples of behavior controls are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; workplace dressing code, workplace reporting time, hygiene policy (i.e. hand washing during the current COVID-19 pandemic), segregation of duties (i.e. in the accounting department), etc. At the macro level, the ISO 9000 and 14000 Standard Series on quality and environmental assurance have been identified by Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, and Bamford (2018) as examples of behavior controls.

The relevance of behavior controls cannot be overstated. This is more so the case when it comes to the achievement of certain clearly stated goals and objectives. Indeed, according to Black, Bright and Gardner (2019), in seeking to control the behavior of employees, organizations are often interested in certain end results. For instance, according to the authors, an organization in the healthcare realm could require healthcare workers to sanitize or wash their hands before interacting with patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This could be done in an attempt to minimize the risk of the said patients acquiring nosocomial infections. Behavior controls could also come in handy in efforts to discourage certain behaviors or courses of action. For instance, segregation of duties (which has been listed as an example of a behavior control elsewhere in this text) could help prevent the embezzlement of funds in the accounting department. In this case, two or more persons are needed for key tasks to be completed, i.e. when there is a requirement that checks be signed by two persons. Embezzlement of funds would in this case call for collaboration which is rather difficult to achieve. Next, behavior controls are also instrumental in achieving the desired results because they focus on regulating the deeds or conduct that in the end bring fourth the desired results. This could be contrasted with output controls whose primary focus happens to be the results (Wilkinsin and Kannan, 2013). For instance, to promote focus (and, thus, productivity), an organization could attempt to prevent employees from visiting some websites, i.e. social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, during working hours. This could be achieved by issuing express instructions to employees not to visit the said websites during working hours - or better still, introducing a filtering software. This is an example of a behavior control meant to achieve or produce the desired result (i.e. focus and, hence, productivity).